The Next Generation vs Lord Voldemort's Regime
by rosevioletsmile123
Summary: When the next generation is whisked back in time (2022), they open an alternate dimension and find themselves in early March 1998 facing Lord Voldemort's Regime. Before going home, they use the knowledge they have gained about the second wizarding war to help defeat Voldemort and create a better future.
1. The Family Reunion

**Chapter 1: The Family Reunion**

**Summary: When the next generation is whisked back in time (2022), they open an alternate dimension and find themselves in early March 1998 facing Lord Voldemort's Regime. Before going home, they use the knowledge they have gained about the second wizarding war to help defeat Voldemort and create a better future.**

**AN1: So I'm reposting this entire story. I rewrote parts of this because it's been like, over a year since I've worked on this. I mean, I've worked on it, but only bits and pieces. I also thought of new ideas I wanted to incorporate, but they would have resulted in parts of the old story being even more lazily written. So I changed a few aspects of the characters, such as what Houses they were/are in (such as in the cases of Louis and Roxanne), but the main character aspect I changed was Albus', making him transgender, because I don't typically see transgender characters in fanfiction or many places, really. And it doesn't really make sense that the next generation cast would be as non-diverse as most people imagine them, as mostly straight, white characters (a lot of drawings I've seen of Freddie make him white). I'm a cis female, so I may not be portraying Albus correctly. If you are transgender and want to tell me what I'm doing wrong with his gender identity, feel free. I've taken liberties with how being transgender is dealt with, the story being set in the wizarding world (we hardly know how homosexuality is dealt with) and Albus probably getting better treatment than many afab (assigned female at birth) people (and definitely amab people) in the wizarding world (medically and in terms of how people behave towards him) because of his being Harry Potter's son. So yay, here's the first chapter. This one functions as an introduction to the characters. Please read and offer constructive criticism, or any opinions on the story.**

**Warnings: If you can stomach **_**Deathly Hallows**_**, you can get through this. **

**Pairings: Most, if not entirely canon (Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, Teddy/Victoire) with possible Rose/Scorpius , hints of James Sirius/Judith Longbottom (OC), and other pairings that have practically no relevance to the plot.**

**AN2: Character Notes – **

**Teddy Remus Lupin: Age 23, Gryffindor . Orphaned by the war, Teddy's upbringing was the opposite of his godfather's, and he grew up to be a caring, chivalrous young man who was taken under his godfather's wing to become and Auror. **

**Victoire Evangeline Weasley: Age 21, Gryffindor. Victoire is open, mostly honest, romantic, a bit of a caretaker for her younger cousins, and she is an expert at potions and charms, which are suitable for her career of being a Healer.**

**Molly Morganna Weasley: Age 19, Ravenclaw. Highly intelligent, logical, and driven by a desire to learn, Molly is close with her father and Dominique and currently works at the Ministry's time travel research division.**

**Dominique Appoline Weasley: Age 19, Slytherin. The first Weasley in a long time to be sorted into a house other than Gryffindor, Dominique, a hit-witch, is incredibly ambitious and driven to do whatever it takes to get the job done.**

**Fred "Freddie" Lee Weasley: Age 18, Gryffindor. A prankster like his namesake, Freddie tries to keep a smiling face. He is brave, brash, and currently working in his father's joke shop, though he plans to start a business with James.**

**James Sirius Potter: Age 18, Gryffindor. Freddie's best friend next to his sister, James is loyal to his family despite all of his jokes, a romantic at heart, and an expert at randomly coming up with ideas; he plans to start a business, though he doesn't exactly know what kind yet.**

**Roxanne "Roxie" Olivia Weasley: Age 17, Slytherin. It took her family some time to get acquainted with the idea of Roxie being a Slytherin, as she seemed a close candidate for Gryffindor, but she remains close friends with James and Louis and her bond with Freddie is almost as unbreakable as the bond between Fred and George. Currently, she is interning for Lee Jordan's radio show.**

**Louis Arthur Weasley: Age 17, Hufflepuff. He may seem concerned with his appearance at times, but Louis often is considerate of others. Louis' goal in life is to become a chef, though he designs fashions sometimes in his spare time, and he and Roxanne often find themselves roped into James' and Freddie's schemes.**

**Lucy Adrienne Weasley: Age 16, Gryffindor. The best seeker Hogwarts has seen since Harry Potter, Lucy's ambition is to become a Quidditch player for England. Unlike her sister, Lucy mistrusts her father and does not have a best friend within her tightly-knit family.**

**Albus "Al" Severus Potter: Age 15, Ravenclaw. Given that he was not the little girl that his parents hoped he'd be, Albus was lucky to grow up with an accepting family and find friends at Hogwarts, where he found his passion in learning.**

**Rose Nymphadora Weasley: Age 15, Ravenclaw. Well read, intelligent, and highly competitive, Rose is self-motivated and loves her family and friends, even if they get on her nerves sometimes, and she has her own sense of organization and planning.**

**Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy: Age 15, Ravenclaw. A highly sarcastic boy, Scorpius' main goals in life are to remain on decent terms with the Weasley-Potter family, maintain good grades, obtain information, and be as little like his grandfather as he possibly can.**

**Lily Luna Potter: Age 13, Hufflepuff. Lily believes in helping others, fairness, and kindness to all creatures, and she has a particular fondness of creatures of all shapes and sizes, as well as the outdoors.**

**Hugo Septimus Weasley: Age 13, Gryffindor. Hugo is energetic and excitable. He likes adventures, running, occasionally bothering his big sister, and spending with Lily, his best friend. Although he's not the smartest, he has his moments of intuition.**

**Disclaimer: Do fanfiction stories even need disclaimers? Is anyone going to mistake who _Harry _Potter belongs to? Is anyone going to mistake a word of this for JK Rowling's writing style? Regardless, Harry, his friends, his friends' friends, and all of their children belong to JK Rowling.**

**Chapter Summary: It's just a Weasley-Potter family reunion like any other.**

* * *

It started out as any other Weasley-Potter family reunion: cheerful and slightly chaotic. One would think nothing particularly tragic would happen; the weather was practically perfect, the bright blue sky littered with a few puffy clouds and the sun spreading warmth throughout the orchard where the family was gathered. But sunny skies only serve to juxtapose the inevitable future. When the Weasley-Potter children are involved, the unpredictable tends to occur.

Molly Weasley smiled to herself and took a deep breath of fresh air as she allowed herself a moment of rest and paused for a moment in the back doorway leading to the orchard. In her arms she held a heaping plate of treacle tarts and lemon squares for the children and adults to snack on. She permitted herself to watch the scene before her, an accurate depiction of what she had always dreamed her future would hold – well, almost, but she didn't often like to dwell on the subject of what had happened all those years ago.

Her husband, son, Percy, and his wife, Audrey, were sitting at one end of the table in animate discussion while Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione sat at the other, the couples holding hands or brushing knees underneath the table. Lily Luna and Hugo were running up to their parents in excitement to show them an interesting creature they had found. Meanwhile, Dominique was trying to coax her cousin Molly away from the novel she was reading while Albus, Rose, and Scorpius, who was invited by the former two, sat huddled in the middle of the orchard playing a game of exploding snap. The rest of the family was in the side yard engaged in a Quidditch match. Hopefully. She shuddered to think what would happen if James and Freddie were without something to do. _Honestly, the two are nearly as bad as F-f-fred and George_, she thought_._ She was interrupted by someone bumping into her and the treacle tarts rattled against the surface of the plate.

"Sorry, Grandmum," said Roxanne. She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow.

"Oh, that's quite alright, dear. I was just resting for a minute."

"We're taking a break because Teddy's team needs time to 'plan their strategy.' Like that'll help them. Honestly, why can't he just admit he lost?"

"Because, little sis," came a voice from behind Roxanne. Freddie had snuck up from behind her. He put an arm around her shoulder and she pushed it off playfully. "No good Quidditch player ever admits they lost while the game is still going on and there's at least a 5% chance that they might win. You never know, Victoire might catch the snitch. Ooh, treacle tart." He grabbed one off of the plate and stuffed it into his mouth.

"This was going on the table outside if you want any more. There's more food in the kitchen if you'd like, and some drinks too. All that Quidditch must make you tired."

"Thanks, Grandmum," said Roxanne and Freddie in unison as she hurried out to the table where Mr. Weasley, Percy, and Audrey were seated. Mr. Weasley scooted aside to make room for his wife setting down the snack.

"Victoire couldn't catch the snitch if she tried. She's more of the keeper type," said Roxanne, continuing the conversation. "If Teddy wanted 'strategy,' he would've kept her as far away from the snitch as possible. Remind me, why is she playing seeker again?"

"Because Teddy is the captain and she batted her eyelashes at him begged him to with _that_ tone in her voice. '_Oh, Teddy_, can I be seeker just this once?" mimicked Freddie. "_Oh, Teddy_, did I ever tell you how your blue hair shines in the sunlight? Did I ever mention how utterly perfect you are?"

Roxanne snickered. "Better keep your voice down. Vic would skin you alive if she heard you talking like that."

"Well, she won't. She's still out in the yard with everyone else and I'm done playing Quidditch for the day. I just came in here to get something to eat, and now I'm off to find James. There's something we want to do."

"And what would that be?" Roxanne was suspicious. She knew that if her brother refused to play _Quidditch_, he was either seriously ill or up to no good. And if he was up to no good, then she wanted in on whatever he and James were up to.

"I solemnly swear that we will not cause bodily harm to you or anyone else, Roxie." Roxanne gave a small start and she turned her head to see James' trademark grin. Why did people keep sneaking up on her?

"An oath from you two idiots means next to nothing in my book," she said with a smile. "And you said nothing about emotional harm. I remember one of your pranks scarred me for a couple weeks. The sight of Nott in fishnets is still fresh in my mind, and not in a good way. You two didn't have to see him come in through the common room." She did pick up decent blackmail material from the incident, though.

"We're not planning anything that horrifying," Freddie promised.

"Yeah, last time we were here, we found a secret staircase we think leads to the attic. We're just going to see what's up there," James added.

"If we see anything of interest, we'll give 'ya a holler, little sis." Roxie creased her eyebrows.

"You two can explore later. If I go back alone and they notice you're missing, they'll send out a search party. We all know what happens when we leave you two alone. We can all go up together after dinner when the adults are busy with their discussions. Louis would probably like to join in, too, and he's talking to Vic about something."

James and Freddie considered Roxanne's words. After James and Freddie glanced at each other, the former spoke. "Deal, Roxie. We'll wait 'till after dinner, even though it's probably because you just want me to stick around to play Quidditch. You know you couldn't win without me on your team, anyways."

"Whatever you say, Potter," said Roxanne, brushing off James' statement with a wave of her hand, though it was true that James was a talented Quidditch player.

"You're going down Potter, sis," Freddie said. "The game should be starting back up soon." The three made their way back to where their uncles, aunts, and cousins were waiting.

* * *

Dominique was trying to get her best friend, Molly, to put down her book and join her in watching Quidditch. "Molly. Molly. Social interaction, Molly. You know, that thing where we talk to people instead of sitting around?" She was so desperate that she considered using her veela power, but it never worked on anyone who wouldn't be attracted to her anyways.

"As soon as I finish this chapter, Dominique," she said. "It just became rather interesting. I wouldn't want to spoil the story for you, but seeing as you'll probably never read it, I just reached the part where the main character is about to be forced to burn down his own house."

"What's the book called?" asked Dominique with mild interest, though her voice still sounded impatient.

"Fahrenheit 451. It's a muggle book about a society in which books are outlawed and people sit around all day watching the telly." Dominique nodded in understanding, having been to Molly's house enough times to know what a telly was.

"So, why're books outlawed?"

"Well, it originally started because some books were too controversial. Of course, as the world's population grew, so did the number of minorities and so some books were considered offensive to others. The media became watered down and people wanted things flashier and books and other media were written to accommodate that. Firemen, those are the people who burn the books, came about to burn the offensive material and be the official prosecutors and keep everything 'equal.' That's essentially one of the major themes of the novel. Is it better to be given freedom of speech in what you say and write? Or is censorship necessary to protect people?"

Dominique let out an exaggerated yawn. "People can do whatever they want, just as long as they're smart enough not to get caught. What do you think?" Molly occasionally spiraled into lengthy rants, typically about the book of the week, a subject she could be very passionate about.

"Well, that's the thing. Those who did get caught in the book were in major trouble with the government. However, freedom of speech is necessary for a growing society, but people hated controversy."

"Well, you know what I hate? Just sitting around reading on a day such as this. It's the Weasley-Potter family reunion, Molly! Get off your arse and socialize, already! We can watch the Quidditch match with almost everyone else, we can eat, or we can talk to people like your dad over there." She pointed to where Percy was sitting with Audrey and Mr. Weasley. "Doesn't he and your mom like ancient Muggle literature, too?"

Molly looked slightly offended. "This book isn't that old. The copyright is 1953, so yes, it is around seventy years old, but in comparison to some other books, it's rather new. Besides, age has little to do with the quality of literature."

"Listen, Missy, I am a certified hit-witch now and I should write you up for being so anti-social. You can finish your book later." She pulled Molly to her feet and the two young women headed over to the plate of treacle tarts and lemon squares.

* * *

Hugo Weasley sat next to Lily Potter on the little dock overlooking the small lake, both soaking their feet and watching the brightly colored fish swim by. The typically chatty pair sat in silence for a few minutes, both absorbed in their own thoughts. As he watched his feet in the water, Hugo thought strategy, tapping his fingers against the wood. He was planning on racing Lily back to the house and was running through all the possible ways he could beat his slightly younger but also slightly faster cousin back to the Burrow. He glanced over his shoulder, examining all the possible routes he could take. He knew that the shortest distance between any two points is a straight line, but the straightest path was also covered with plenty of rocks to trip over.

While Hugo mulled that over, Lily was looking at the small frog in her hands. She had showed it to her parents, uncle, and aunt, but they seemed uninterested in the creature. Lily loved practically all animals, big and small, and her new favorite class was Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid always showed such interesting creatures during class and sometimes she, Hugo, and Joey Wood, another one of her friends, stayed after class so they could see more fascinating creatures. Lily cradled the frog in her small hands and it looked at her and blinked with its large, glassy eyes. "I think we should call him Lightning," she said, breaking the silence. "I mean, he looks like a 'Lightning,' doesn't he, Hugo?"

"What?" said Hugo, bringing his attention back to her. He craned his head to look at the frog. "I mean, sure, 'Froggy' seems a bit uncreative, so 'Lightning's' as good a name as any. What makes you think the frog's a boy, then?"

"I guess you're right, but all frogs look the same. I remember one time at dinner, Al was talking about pronouns – you think frogs have their own?"

Hugo turned his body to better face Lily and when he spoke, he gestured with his hands. "Maybe 'ribbit' is just what all frogs call each other. Or maybe they're boys one day, girls the next, and the next day, they're something a bit different."

"I still like the name "Lightning," though. It can be used for animals of all sorts of genders."

"Yeah, and people see that the frog's named 'Lightning' and they're like, 'wow, your frog must be pretty fast!'"

"Do you think Dad will let me keep him, though?" asked Lily.

"I dunno, you already have Hera," Hugo responded a bit dejectedly. Hera was Lily's eastern screech owl. "You think Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny will remember to feed him? Remember what happened to that mouse you found? You went to Hogwarts and came back to find his rotting carcass in his cage. I don't even want to imagine what dead frog smells like." He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Lily sighed. "You're right." She set "Lightning" down on the pier, where the frog immediately jumped off and splashed into the water. "Bye, Lightning. Guess I'll never own more than a screech owl."

Hugo patted her shoulder. "Cheer up, Lily. There's always's Hagrid's pets."

"Yeah, but I can't sneak a hippogriff up to my dormitory and feed it. And flobberworms are boring," said Lily.

"Oh well," said Hugo. He kicked his foot in the water, splashing everything within a five-foot radius. "Wanna race me back to the Burrow? We could annoy Rose, Al, and Scorpion."

Lily's face lit up. "Sure, nothing better than annoying one of my brothers. They're playing exploding snap or something, remember? I have no idea where James is anyways. Probably off playing Quidditch or pulling a prank on Rose, Roxanne, or Dominique or using Uncle George's products."

"You just have to keep out of his way and pray he won't hurt you."

"I just hope Rose and Scorpion aren't snogging or anything. From the look in their eyes, I can tell they want to."

"Nah, they wouldn't do that in front of Al. Besides, I don't think they even realize how they feel about each other, even being the brilliant Ravenclaws they are," said Hugo, grunting as he began to stand up.

"I doubt Albus even knows they like each other. They _could_ be snogging in front of him, I doubt he'd notice. So, winner gets the loser's dessert? You're on, Gryffie."

"You're about to lose, 'Puff." They got to their feet and counted down.

"Three, two, one, GO!" They shouted in unison and began to sprint. Lily ran in a straight line, but her speed was slowed somewhat as she made sure not to trip over any rocks. She loved the feeling of running, of her heart beating hard and her legs pumping, but she had to lift them high to avoid falling. Hugo ran around the rocky areas at full speed. When each of them reached the orchard they were out of breath. Hugo won.

* * *

It was an unspoken family rule that all Weasley-Potter family reunions had at least a small Quidditch match. Luckily, the family was large enough to form two complete teams, even with the adults sitting on the sidelines. When the kids were younger, the game was played solely for the enjoyment of playing, but as the children blossomed so did their desire for competition.

No matter what, there was always something memorable about each game, such as the year Teddy suggested a kids against the adults match and the kids won, though the adults would later claim to have been going easy on the kids, or the following year in which the snitch traveled outside the Burrow's grounds and George and Bill had to retrieve it before any muggles inquired as to why a golden ball with wings was flying around Ottery St. Catchpole.

The most memorable thing anyone could say about this year's game was that the team captained by Teddy was losing spectacularly, but he refused to admit defeat. "You sure you don't want me to play seeker, Vic?" he asked as he caught a glimpse of a golden flicker a few feet away.

Victoire was scanning the air determinately for the snitch. "I'm _sure_ Teddy," she said in exasperation. "It's almost like you don't believe I can catch it. I know it's my first try as seeker, but like Dad says, 'you never know unless you try.'"

"You tell him, sweetheart!" shouted a voice from below. Victoire tried not to roll her eyes at her father's comment.

"Victoire's right, Teddy," said James, zooming up to the both of them on his _Nimbus 3000_. "You never know until you fail. Don't worry, Vic. Lucy'll catch the snitch soon enough and put you both out of your misery."

"Shut it, Potter," Teddy and Victoire said in unison.

"Oi, James!" shouted Angelina, who was in possession of the quaffle and was being chased by the other chaser from Teddy's team, Freddie. "If you're done lazing about, I could use some help!" With so many people who didn't want to play, each team had one seeker, two chasers, one keeper, and a beater.

Louis hit a bludger in Freddie's direction, but it was deflected by George. "Nice try Lou, but you call that a hit? I could smack a bludger that hard when I was in second year. Very rude to try to hit a man's son in front of him," he said, smiling. Louis dodged the bludger.

"I am perfectly capable of fending for myself, Dad," yelled Freddie as he zoomed past, chasing Angelina, who threw the quaffle to James. With James distracted, however, Teddy caught the ball with ease and flew to the other side of the yard, where Roxanne was waiting, tensed and ready to defend her hoops.

"Oh, marvelous job of helping, James," Roxanne muttered as she gripped the broom handle.

Everybody chased after Teddy except Victoire, who was muttering curses under her breath. "Of course I can catch it," she muttered. "Why does every single bloody person think I can't catch it?"

"Are you doing all right zere, Victoire?" shouted Fleur, who was guarding the other goal. She had recently learned how to play Quidditch and found it "charmate." She learned that her best position was keeper, though even then she was a beginner.

"I'm all right, Mum!" Victoire shouted back. _Focus, Vic_, she thought. _To focus is to win. _Unfortunately for her, she was playing seeker against Lucy, who was likely to be promoted to captain once the next school year rolled around.

She looked to and saw Lucy approximately seven yards away, who was currently the embodiment of _focus_. Lucy's dark brown eyes narrowed as they scanned the yard for any sign of the elusive snitch. As soon as she caught sight of even the faintest flicker of gold, she would lean forward on her battered racing broom and take off, leaving a blur of black and peach and pink.

Victoire realized that now was one of those times. Lucy was reaching in midair, arm outstretched. Victoire's heart plummeted in her chest, then immediately picked up its pace. She sped after her cousin, willing the broom to go faster than ever, but Lucy seemed miles away. She was reaching… reaching….

Down below, Bill watched the game with Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny, who had come to see how the game was going. "How's it going, Bill?" asked Ron. "From the looks of it, I'd say your daughter's just about to kill Harry's son."

"He probably deserves it," added Ginny. "The look on his face… it's the same look F-Fred and George had when they were his age. Right down to the cocky eyebrows."

"Now Ginny," said Harry. "Fred and George weren't quite _that_ bad." He put an arm around his wife.

Ginny gave Harry a look of disbelief. "Like you have any room to talk! You didn't have to grow up with them."

"Ginny's right, Harry," said Bill. "And Ron, James' team is winning 100 to 30. Not even close. Much as I hate to say it, there's no way in hell my daughter and Fleur's team is going to win. I'm surprised Lucy hasn't caught the snitch yet."

"Doesn't catching the snitch give the team an extra 150 points?" inquired Hermione as Teddy caught the quaffle and soared to the other end of the yard.

"Yes, but this is Victoire's first time playing," explained Bill. "Maybe if she had more practice, but I can't see her beating Lucy. Remember when she made seeker and Percy boasted about it for over a week?"

Ron let out a cough that sounded distinctly like 'prat' and Hermione slapped him lightly on his arm. "I don't see the point of the other players, then. If the snitch gives a team 150 points when they only have zero, if the other side has 140 points and the other seeker catches it, that team lost."

"I agree with you, Hermione. The seeker really is the most important position on the Quidditch field," said Harry, who was subsequently slapped playfully by Ginny.

Ron stood slack-jawed, and then he spoke. "Unimportant, Hermione!? Unimportant?! Remember the World Cup? Ireland won, but Krum got the snitch!"

"That was a rare occurrence, Ron," said Hermione. "I meant _usually_ the other players have no effect on a game."

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Bill said, "Oi! Stop arguing and look! I think Lucy spotted the snitch!" Sure enough, Lucy Weasley had indeed spotted the snitch. She raced after it, arm outstretched. Victoire had noticed what she was doing, but it was too late. As Victoire reached out for the golden ball, her head was turned slightly away from it as though she was afraid to catch it.

Above the adult's heads, Lucy felt a rush of sweet adrenaline as she narrowed in on the golden snitch. She would play Quidditch a million times over for this feeling alone. She bent her body forward, keeping a tight grip on the broom handle and she reached and reached until she felt cold metal beneath her fingers and a tickle on her palm as the snitch tried in vain to escape. Lucy held the snitch above her head in triumph. "Oi, everyone! I got the snitch! I got the snitch!"

James was the first to see her catch it and shouted, "Lucy's got the snitch! Game over, losers!" He echoed the sentiment until everyone had heard and began descending to the ground. As she flew towards the ground, she noticed Victoire's expression, as it was one that had been displayed on most of her rivals. She only felt a small pang of guilt because she had won, right?

She and Victoire dismounted their brooms at approximately the same time. She was looking at Victoire, but Victoire was making a point to look at some distinct point in the distance. Teddy snuck up behind Victoire and grabbed her around the waist, then twirled her in the air. He kissed her and they fell to the ground, laughing. Lucy decided that Victoire would be alright.

"Hey," said someone from behind her. It was Louis. "Nice one," he said as he walked past Lucy, holding the bludger above his head. "Good job winning the game for us, Lucy."

Lucy shrugged off Louis' praise and tried to keep the smug grin off her face. She failed at doing so. "It was nothing, really. The snitch we've got isn't even that fast. You want a challenge? Try the ones at Hogwarts. Those are like effing lightning compared to this one."

Louis nodded. "I've got to go hand this to Uncle Bill." He threw the bludger up in the air once, caught it quickly, and ran over to Bill, who was being handed the quaffle by Roxanne. Lucy walked up to her uncle herself and placed the snitch in his outstretched palm.

"Good game?" he asked.

"Pretty good," she answered. "Hell, you should've played. We hardly had enough to play a good game, and there wasn't much competition." Bill raised an eyebrow at her and she realized whose father she was talking to. "I mean, Vic did the best she could, but you know…"

"Yeah," Bill said. "But she had fun, and that's what matters when you're playing Quidditch.

"I know," responded Lucy.

Fleur ran up to Bill and began chatting with him as he put the balls away in a box at his feet, having finished congratulating her daughter on a job well done. The family made their way back to the front of the house with Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione leading the way. James had high-fived his parents and was now whispering to Freddie, both of them having barely concealed mischievous grins on their faces. Roxanne and Louis followed close behind and were engaged in conversation, both of them side-eyeing James and Freddie as Teddy and Victoire followed them, holding hands and looking at each other in a way that made Lucy simultaneously want to coo and throw up.

Lucy followed behind them without waiting for Bill and Fleur, feeling proud of another Quidditch victory but partially wishing she had someone to share it with. Everyone had a pair. Then she thought something she had considered before about her father and instead thought of Hogwarts, its Quidditch pitch, and the courtyard in which she spent time with her friends. But the Longbottom family had been unable to attend the gathering, so her best friend, Frank Longbottom, wasn't there at the moment.

* * *

While the Quidditch match was going on, Albus, Rose, and Scorpius sat in the grass, chatting. Rose was sitting with her legs outstretched in the warm sun, while Albus was sitting cross-legged and Scorpius was lying on his stomach. Rose had won the game of exploding snap, although all three friends were missing portions of their eyebrows. "My grandparents came over last weekend," Scorpius said. Rose and Albus exchanged a look. They knew how much he loathed his grandfather.

"Don't let him bother you, Scorp," Albus said.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh, I didn't. He said, 'Little Scorpius, you're not still hanging around with the little Miss Potter copy and the blood traitor bitch, are you? I must speak to Draco about the people he lets his son hang around with.'" Despite the insults to them, Rose and Albus laughed at Scorpius' imitation of Lucius Malfoy's drawl, though Albus looked slightly uneasy at the "little Miss Potter" comment. "I replied, 'of course I am, Grandfather, or would you prefer it if I hung around the children of Death Eaters, leading to more whispers about our family's true loyalty? Albus is more of a man than the snots you hang out with. Besides, Rose and I plan to settle down someday and live with the muggles, teaching our children muggle customs…'"

"You told them we were in a relationship?" hissed Rose, a light blush rising to her cheeks. "We _aren't_. And if that sort of remark got back to my dad, he'd skin you alive!"

"Relax, Rose, I doubt he'd tell anyone what I've said. I could have said I planned to marry Albus here – " Albus made a face "– but I don't think he'd believe it if I said I was a poof. But then again, he keeps saying Albus is a girl, and all-in-all, I didn't think I'd be doing anyone a favor if I gave him any opening for that kind of talk."

Rose's face was growing redder by the minute, though Albus looked grateful. "I suppose that makes sense," she grumbled.

Albus laughed at the expression on Rose's face. "So back to the story. Did your grandfather castrate you?"

"He looked like he wanted to, but Grandmum stepped in and saved me. She gave me a big hug and said, 'Scorpius, how are you?' Grandfather didn't speak to me for the rest of the evening, though."

"Well, Scorp, congratulations on pissing off your grandfather once more. Blimey, you are going to get yourself castrated someday. Or disowned," observed Rose.

"I'm planning on it, Rosie. Then we can settle down in a little cottage by some muggles and…"

Rose had pulled out her wand. "One more word, Malfoy, and I'll castrate you before your grandfather even gets a chance."

"Now, now, Rosie," teased Scorpius. We wouldn't want to get in trouble for use of underage sorcery, now would we?"

"Stupid wizarding law," grumbled Rose. "There are other ways to torture you."

"You can always talk to Uncle George," suggested Albus. "He'd be thrilled to give you something from his shop if it meant harming a Malfoy."

"Who's planning to hurt Scorpion?" asked Hugo who was standing behind Rose, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Hugo was always moving part of his body in some way. He sounded a little winded. Beside him stood Lily, who was craning over Albus' head like a bird.

"Bugger off, little bro," mumbled Rose.

"Rose was planning to harm Scorpius," answered Albus. "He said something to his grandfather about them dating."

"So they finally are dating, then?" said Lily. "About time, too, I was sick of seeing Scorpion and Rose making eyes at each other when they think no one's looking. Believe me, they are looking. And they are very disturbed."

"We are not dating!" shouted Rose and Scorpius, though Rose's voice was louder.

"Honestly," said Rose. "You are such idiots, the lot of you. Except you, Al. You are the only intelligent person in this entire family. Besides me and Mum, of course. Though I suppose Uncle Harry's not too bad."

"Thank you, Rose," Albus said.

"I can't be too stupid if I'm in Ravenclaw," replied Scorpius. "And I'm becoming a bit suspicious of you, Rosie. They say that the more someone denies their feelings, the more they're lying."

"You were almost as loud as me, you prat!" Scorpius had no response to that.

At that moment, the people who were playing Quidditch returned and Mrs. Weasley stuck her head outside of the doorway. Knowing what was going to happen, Rose and Albus rose to their feet and gestured for Scorpius to do the same. "Is everyone ready for dinner?" she asked. No one noticed except Louis, but Roxanne, James, and Freddie shared a look.

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading. Please review, I could use some opinions on my writing! :)**


	2. The Timeturner in the Attic

**Chapter 2: The Timeturner in the Attic**

**Chapter Summary: The plot shows up (sort of, there's more intro to the characters/filler) James, Freddie, Roxie, and Louis go to explore the attic. Others follow, and they discover that what's in the attic is more interesting than they imagined, and just as cliché as you can imagine. ****  
**

* * *

The large table in the orchard was filled to its maximum capacity, so much so that poor Lily was feeling squashed between Bill and Hugo. The sun sinking slowly in the sky painted it an array of orange shades. The crescent moon was just visible over the treetops, which shook with the slight springtime breeze.

Mrs. Weasley was bringing out the second course by now: fish and chips, a favorite of Roxanne's. At various sections of the table the family was engaged in conversation. "England has put together a relatively decent team this year, hasn't it?" said Lucy at one end of the table. She rested her elbow on the table and put a chip she was holding in her mouth. She swallowed quickly before speaking. "Hel – I mean, I think they've got a shot at the world cup this year even, if they can win the next few matches. The United States has been doing pretty well too though, and England's playing those Yanks in a couple of weeks."

"England and the States can play all they want, but Greenland has this one in the bag, Lucy," said Ginny. "I went to one of their games for the article I'm writing and they completely destroyed France. Koolitch caught the snitch within the first five minutes of the game. I've never seen a more pathetic match in my life."

"Really? Though one would expect France to be the losing team," Lucy said with a smirk. "Has Greenland got any other good players?"

"From the five minutes I had to watch of them, they were brilliant. Haven't seen teamwork like that in a couple years," answered Ginny.

Sitting in the center of the table were Teddy and Victoire. Having for the most part gotten over her humiliating performance on the Quidditch pitch, she was now rambling on about her work. "Twelve sick children admitted to St. Mungo's in one hour. _One hour_, Teddy! We give parents pamphlets about keeping dangerous potions out of their kids' reach, but they never listen. My first week as a full-time Healer, and I have to remove several extra appendages. Well, at least it was interesting. One of them had an arm protruding from his forehead."

Teddy was only half-listening, as the object in the front pocket of his robes bore an enormous weight. Well, not enormous in the literal sense, as the object in question weighed only a few grams, but heavy in the metaphorical sense. Teddy had purchased a ring from a muggle jeweler the previous week and had been carrying it around in his pocket ever since. It was not that he was uncertain that he wanted to marry her; he had known ever since his eighteenth birthday when the elaborate date Victoire had planned ended in them both being thrown out of the muggle restaurant. In the slowly fading daylight with her by his side and their family surrounding them, however, he couldn't bring himself to propose. Doubts churned inside him, silencing his words. Would Victoire accept his proposal? He was certain she wanted to marry him, too, but did she want to wait a couple years? Did she want him to propose to her in private, or right there in front of her entire family?

He was snapped out of his dilemma by Vic. "Teddy?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face. "Hello, anybody home?"

"Yes, Vic?" he said, pulling himself away from his thoughts. "Sorry, I didn't hear you. I spaced out for a moment. What did you say?"

She looked at him as though he had grown another appendage and grabbed his right hand under the table. He felt his heart speed up in his chest. "I asked how your work was going. Thought it might be a good idea if we take a break from listening to my silly rants about my work for a while. Just a little while. Are you sure you're okay, Teddy?"

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine. You weren't bothering me at all. I've just got a lot on my mind at the moment."

"Care to share? Pulling a lot of late nights, monsieur Auror?"

He smiled. "Something like that."

A couple seats over, Rose was filling her plate with a few extra helpings of chicken. "Geez, a bit much, Rose?" said Al.

"Plan on leaving a bit for the rest of us? I'm all skin and bones here," said Scorpius.

Rose pretended to be offended. "I am not eating too much. Dad has had two more helpings than I've had. And Scorpius, I very much doubt you are skin and bones, nicking food from the kitchens all the time. And when you are home, your mum feeds you anything you want."

"I'm a growing boy. And what about Al? Poor thing's skinny as a bean pole."

"Am not! Besides, what kind of analogy is that anyways? 'Bean pole.' It's genetic anyways. At least that's what _So You Look Like An Exact Copy of Your Parents?: Genetics for Wizards and Witches_ says."

"I've never read that one! Where did you find it?" asked Rose, who was determined to read more books than everyone in her family combined. Unfortunately, she was behind Molly in that race.

"Hogwarts library. And you don't need it anyways. You don't look like an exact copy of your parent. Thanks to the potions I've been taking, I look more and more like my dad every day." When Albus was born, everyone thought he was a girl. When he was six, he told his father that he wasn't, and Harry had given him a new name. When he began puberty, he started taking potions to help his body become more 'male.' "I was hoping the process would make me look a bit less like Dad. Some loony people call me 'Harry Potter' whenever I go somewhere."

"At least you're looking manlier. I can't really see you as looking much like a girl anymore. As for Rosie, I dunno, Al, she does look like her parents a little bit." Scorpius began listing things off. "Trademark Weasley red hair, bushy like her mother's, freckles, tall, like her father, longish nose-" Rose scowled at that remark "- big blue eyes, full figure-" He stopped there, realizing he had gone too far. Rose and Scorpius both covered their embarrassment by digging into their food. Albus shrugged, and then continued devouring his dinner with gusto.

Bill was describing his adventures to Hugo and Lily, two of his most eager audience members. "So there I was, in Egypt again, trying to find these rare galleons that have been lost for over a hundred years. I came across this huge sphinx in the middle of the Sahara Desert and she tells me the directions to this tomb. I went to the tomb – those are built in pyramids in Egypt – then I translated the hieroglyphics and this massive wall lifted up, completely shaking the ground. Behind it was a massive room where some wealthy Egyptian wizard was buried." Lily and Hugo were absorbing every single word of the story. "The galleons were there of course, in a big clay pot, but what really caught my eye was a gold sarcophagus."

"Was there a mummy in there all rotting and wrapped in bandages?" asked Hugo excitedly.

Bill chuckled. "In matter of fact, there was. If you're ever in Egypt, remember to read the fine print on the hieroglyphics. Apparently, I missed the part where it said 'If thou disturb my tomb, my animated corpse will awaken.' Turns out the mummy was an inferius."

"What's that?" asked Lily.

"As I said before when I was telling you two about that one time in the Amazon, it's an animated corpse. Anyways, inferi aren't that difficult to defeat. I shot a few spells at it and it disintegrated. Then I retrieved the galleons and went back to my tent."

"Cool! I'd love to be a cursebreaker!" exclaimed Hugo once Bill had finished the tale. "Fighting mummies and working with goblins and living in Egypt and all over the world." He punched the air.

"It's not all battling mummies and traveling. I work for Gringotts. There's a great deal of arithmetic involved, as well as dealing in currency," said Bill.

"I can do arithmetic. That's easy. They taught us some in primary school before I went to Hogwarts."

"It's a bit harder than level four arithmetic."

"I hate arithmetic," said Lily, scrunching up her nose in disgust. "That's why I'm going to work in the St. Mungo's veterinary ward, I think."

"Maybe it's a bit too soon for you two to be planning your futures now," said Bill. "You'll probably end up changing your mind many times; that's what happened with me. Third year is all about taking new classes and when you schedule for sixth year is when you start to decide what you want to be."

"But I've already decided," insisted Lily. "Who's to say I can't know now? Care of Magical Creatures is fun."

"It is," agreed Hugo, beginning to consider professions that dealt with animals. "And when we stay afterwards, Hagrid shows us all sorts of new creatures. I already know what a niffler is."

"You may think it's fun now," said Bill ruefully, "but wait 'till you get to flobberworms."

Farther down the table, Dominique and Molly were discussing Dominique's new promotion in the hit-wizards. "I got moved up to second-in-command after handling that break-in at Hogsmeade. You should have seen the look on Whittler's face when he was told I was his superior. Looked like someone had told him that a heard of thestrals ran over his mum."

Thomas Whittler had once teased both Molly and Dominique mercilessly for being the first Weasleys not to end up in Gryffindor, as Dominique had been a Slytherin and Molly had been sorted into Ravenclaw. He bullied Molly more than Dominique, for her looks and shyness. Dominique was fiercely protective of her cousin, however, and his teasing had lessened slightly after Dominique had said, "I'm glad I'm not Gryffindor, I don't have to deal with embarrassments like you in my house," loudly in the Great Hall. It also didn't hurt that for some reason, his fellow male Gryffindors and a few females seemed like they had turned against him for a couple months.

"I wish I could have seen him," said Molly wistfully. "So what did happen in Hogsmeade, exactly? I read about it in the Prophet, but, as per usual, the paper didn't give exact details. The Quibbler's coverage was marginally better, but I began to distrust the story after the word 'heliopaths' was mentioned thrice."

"Nothing too dangerous happened, if you don't count our newest recruit almost twisting his ankle after running after the bloke. We chased him into the tunnels running under the Leaky Cauldron for about a mile until he realized he was trapped. He tried to cast a disillusionment charm, but not before I'd caught up to him. Just another robber who thought he could steal from Hogsmeade. Not when Dominique Weasley's in charge!"

"I'd hardly call you 'in charge' at the moment," Molly reminded her.

"I will be soon, though. Since I joined the force, crime has dropped 5-10%."

"Impressive." Molly took a bite of fish.

"Every little bit counts," said Dominique. She took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"It's true," said Percy, swallowing his last bite and butting into the conversation. "My department has cut down on international magic carpet usage by 10%. Considering the amount of people using illegal magic carpets, that's a large number."

"See!" said Dominique. "How long do you think it will get me to be promoted to head of the hit-wizards? Molly has no faith in my abilities."

"I did not say that," said Molly. "I merely said you're not in charge _yet_. You have to wait for Reston to retire at least, and he's not exactly young, is he?"

"If the Minister finds Dominique more suited for the job, he'll move her into Reston's position," said Percy. "But I'm sorry to say that with the work Reston has put in, it's unlikely he'll be fired anytime soon. You'd probably have to wait for him to retire and a man who's so dedicated to his job as Reston is probably isn't looking to do so for a while. But congratulations on the position, Dominique."

"Thanks, Uncle Perce," she said, smiling. Her parents had encouraged her to join the squad, but Percy had always encouraged her ambition to lead and improve it.

At the opposite end of the table from his parents, James sat next to Freddie and across from Roxanne and Louis. Louis leaned in to speak to James and Freddie, motioning for Roxanne to follow his lead. "What was that about, earlier?" he asked.

"Whatever do you mean, Lou?" James responded innocently.

"You three, you shared a look and I want to know what it was about." Louis grinned. "If it's a prank, I'm in, even if it's on Victoire or Dominique. I mean, as long as it's nothing too harmful."

"They're not planning a prank, exactly-" began Roxanne. Louis looked at her in disbelief.

"Do you think all we ever do is pull pranks?" said James. "All right, we may pull some later with some of the stuff we got at Uncle George's shop-"

"That's more like it," Louis interrupted. "For a second there I was worried –"

"But the point is, we just want to see what's in the attic," finished Freddie. "What could Grandmum and Granddad be hiding up there? Embarrassing photos, old love letters, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products…"

Roxanne rolled her eyes. "For a second, I thought you two had a more interesting reason to explore the attic. Even if there are those old products, you can't be sure that they're still working after all these years. But there's most likely nothing up there but dust bunnies."

"Then we'll see some dust bunnies, won't we, little sis." There was another reason that he personally wanted to explore the attic, but he felt that he didn't want to share that reason with James and Louis. Perhaps he and Roxie could go to the attic alone one day to look for remaining traces of their father's dead twin. He looked at his sister and raised his eyebrows, and then saw a flash of understanding in her eyes.

"Fair enough, big bro."

"As we promised, no harm shall come to you, one-hundred-percent guaranteed or your money back. If there's nothing up there, then we've harmed no one," said James.

"For once," muttered Roxanne under her breath.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to look around for a bit," said Louis. "Though this is a pity because now I'll have to find a new way to passive-aggressively get Dominique back for borrowing and wrecking my shirt. She wore it under her robes during a mission and it was completely scorched. I mean, I would've let her borrow it if she asked, but she didn't bother."

"Because I'm sure you have absolutely no shirts left and Dominique ruining one constitutes payback," said Roxanne. "Though if it's payback you're looking for, I'm happy to help. But honestly, Louis, you are the most clothes-obsessed boy I've ever seen. Aren't Hufflepuffs supposed to not fall victim to self-absorbed ideals like vanity?"

"I'm a Hufflepuff, not a monk. Besides, I'm not obsessed with clothes!" cried Louis.

"*Liar,*" coughed Freddie and James in unison.

"So anyways," cut in Freddie before Louis could interrupt, "we were going to sneak away after dinner. Even though we are now mature adults, Grandmum still doesn't want us in the attic without her." James scoffed.

Roxanne laughed when Freddie said mature adults, and then said, "Wow, it's almost as if she doesn't trust you."

"Which is absurd, because we are completely trustworthy! Anyways, we have a completely planned and foolproof distraction so we can slip away without the adults noticing us. Freddie nicked a few things from his dad," James whispered.

"Such as?" asked Louis.

"It's a surprise, Louis. Trust me, you'll recognize the distraction when you see it," said Freddie.

"Yeah, it'll be kind of hard to miss. It's going to happen after dinner, though, so everyone can finish their meals in peace. We're considerate like that," said James. "So, Louis, would you like to join Freddie, Roxie, and me?"

"Do you even have to ask? I always end up doing whatever scheme you all get yourselves into, anyways. Sounds better than watching Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry get drunk again, I suppose." Ron and Harry only drank on occasion, though Ron drank more often, but when they drank any form of alcohol, they really _drank_, resulting in an angry Ginny and a furious Hermione ("You are being such a terrible influence on the children!").

* * *

As the sun sank lower into the sky, the family was finishing the meal. Members of the family had excused themselves from the table, such as Albus, Rose, and Scorpius, as well as James and Freddie, which made Mrs. Weasley feel on edge. Ron, much to Hermione's dismay, had seemingly magicked a bottle of firewhiskey from thin air, pouring one small glass for himself and another for Harry.

Teddy and Victoire remained in their seats as the last rays for sun shone on Victoire's light blond hair, which seemed to catch the orange of fading daylight. Looking over at her as he spoke, the ring was feeling even heavier in Teddy's pocket, to the point where he considered excusing himself and rushing to the loo. Teddy was relaying details to Victoire about his last mission. "I was sent to investigate the disappearance of Dedalus Diggle. He hadn't been seen for over two weeks when the neighbors heard an explosion and a scream. Then there was this flash of green light in the window."

Victoire furrowed her brow. "Who would want to murder Dedalus Diggle? Who would have the heart to do so? I mean, he can be annoying and all, but he's as harmless as a pygmy puff and he's getting up in years."

"I never said he was murdered," said Teddy.

"But the flash of green light-"

"I was getting to that. Harry told me to check out the house, so I busted down the door and when I got inside, the place was a wreck, looked like there had been a fire. Understandable, given the flash of green light. I heard someone call out 'help' and I walked into the parlor to see Dedalus lying underneath a bookshelf. He was near a vial and his wand was a few feet away. He was unconscious, though, and it took a couple spells to wake him up."

"So he tried to blow himself up?" asked Victoire. "He's innocent, really, but always struck me as a bit odd." Every time she had seen Dedalus, he had been obsessing over Harry Potter in a manner she considered a bit unhealthy.

"Not exactly. He wouldn't give me specifics, but he was trying to make a specific potion to drive away birds that had been rapping at his window and he had been preparing it for weeks. All of his answers were so vague that they led to new questions. Debriefing him gave me a headache." She laughed at that, and the sound almost made Teddy propose right then and there. "Vic – Victoire, I-" He was edging himself off of his chair so he could get down on one knee, but for once, Victoire wasn't looking at him.

"Did you hear something?" she asked, though she didn't look back at him as he scrambled to reposition himself on his chair. He listened for a moment and did, indeed, hear something. No less than a couple of seconds later, giant Catherine wheels and other assorted fireworks were trapiezing their way through the orchard.

People were looking up from where they were sitting with various expressions on their faces. George was grinning, happy to see his products being put to good use. Mrs. Weasley's face was slowly turning red from anger as a pink firework caused the tray she was carrying to flip over and be knocked to the ground. Most of the family simply looked confused and shocked, at least at first.

From the side of the house, Freddie and James' faces split into joyful grins. "Don't you just love when family events get festive? That'll keep them busy for a while," Freddie said with delight. James nodded in agreement.

James pulled a cloak out of his pocket, the invisibility cloak that had once been his father's. "C'mon, let's go get Roxie and Louis."

Roxanne and Louis were still sitting in their seats, watching the chaos unfold around them. Ron had got out his wand to try and make the fireworks disappear ("Ron, stop! You're just making them multiply!" "I know, Hermione!" "You are _never_ drinking again, Ronald Weasley!"). George was laughing as Angelina sent him a reproachful look, though she was holding back a smile. Percy was trying to remember back to the days when he had helped out in George's shop so he could recall how to vanish the fireworks while Bill was trying to ask George what to do. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny scanned the yard, presumably looking for the culprits.

"You know, when they said distraction, I was sort of hoping they would come up with something more creative than fireworks," said Louis.

"Would you rather they put those toffees in everyone's pasty and all of our tongues were swollen to an abnormal size?" challenged Roxanne. "You know subtlety isn't exactly their forte."

Louis was very fond of his tongue. "Good point." He felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Louis, was that you?" asked Roxanne. She, too, had felt someone touch her.

"No. I think it was the ghosts of annoyances past."

"We resent that," said James' voice. "Are you two coming or not?"

"Fine, we're coming," said Roxanne. "Grandmum looks like she's about to explode anyways."

"You get negative points for originality," Louis told Freddie and James.

"We'll make up for it later," Freddie promised. "And you get negative points for getting off your arses and moving before Gran notices you're talking to thin air."

"Point taken," conceded Louis. Roxanne and Louis got up and rushed into the house. Roxanne and Louis ran at roughly the same pace, both of them trying to avoid bumping into the invisible James and Freddie.

They were spotted by Rose, who was nearby. She, Albus, and Scorpius had seated themselves on the grass once more, though they stood up in case they needed to make a quick getaway from a rogue firework. She turned to Albus and Scorpius. "What do you suspect they're up to?"

"Getting away from all this noise?" suggested Scorpius. "If they don't stay, that's their loss; it's quite entertaining to watch your fathers make complete arses of themselves."

"Leave my dad out of this; he's not sober. And that's not it, anyways, as you weren't paying attention. It looked as though they were talking to someone else. I saw Roxanne jump and then converse with thin air."

"So you propose we follow them?" guessed Albus. "Not that standing and watching family members getting chased by fireworks isn't fun and all, but James had the invisibility cloak. She could've been talking to him."

"James! Of course! Why wasn't that my first conclusion? He and Freddie probably orchestrated this whole thing as a distraction. If I were them, I wouldn't have done as noticeable of a distraction; everybody knows it was them and are going to be looking for them," said Rose.

"Fireworks," tutted Scorpius to Albus. "Been done before. Your cousin and brother are getting more predictable."

"Like most of their other pranks haven't got a pattern," said Albus. "Unless Roxanne plays a major part in their planning, you can bet that there'll be at least one explosion of some kind."

Rose began heading in the direction that Louis and Roxanne went and motioned for Albus and Scorpius to follow. "C'mon! We have to see what they're up to." Sharing a look, Albus and Scorpius ran after Rose.

"What're they up to?" Hugo turned to Lily, who was watching a green dragon firework dance around the yard, Mr. Weasley chasing after it.

"Huh?" said Lily, looking at Hugo for a moment, then staring at her grandfather and the firework again.

"Louis, Roxanne, Rose, Al, and Scorpion just ran into the house."

Lily shrugged. "Maybe they just wanted to get away from the chaos. I'm quite enjoying it myself. See Dad and Uncle Ron chasing after that Catherine wheel?" The firework had gotten too close to Ron and his hair had caught on fire. Hermione was trying to extinguish it with her wand while Harry continued to chase the firework.

Hugo laughed. "Run Uncle Harry, run!" He shouted before continuing his conversation with Lily. "Anyways, isn't it a bit – and by a bit I mean very – suspicious that they all ran in and James and Freddie are missing?" They were the only Potter-Weasley children left in the yard besides Victoire, who was sitting with Teddy, the both of them also attempting to vanish the fireworks.

"Maybe. But if I know my brother, once he causes a mess, he likes to step back and watch the fireworks as other people clean it up. They could be in the house with Dominique, Molly, and Lucy."

"They're really in for it this time. You know how much Grandmum hates it when they mess with family events," said Hugo. Mrs. Weasley was now shouting at the top of her lungs for James and Freddie and her voice was beginning to sound slightly hoarse.

"On the other hand, as fun as watching fireworks is, we should go inside. It's getting pretty loud here." Hugo nodded in agreement. Ginny and Angelina's shouting had joined Mrs. Weasley's. They stood up and ran into the house after Rose, Albus, and Scorpius.

Molly and Dominique were in the kitchen getting drinks when Lucy walked in. After she and Aunt Ginny exhausted the topic of Quidditch and she had a conversation with her mother, Lucy went into the house to use the loo and decided to get a drink herself. Molly was not a huge fan of commotion, so she and Dominique, despite Dominique's protest, had excused themselves to the kitchen. Molly noticed her younger sister first. "Hi, Lucy."

"Hey, Luce."

"It sounds noisy out there," Lucy said. "What happened?"

"Someone –" began Molly.

" – James and Freddie," Dominique cut in.

"Well, of course it was James and Freddie. They set off fireworks in the yard and all of the adults are scrambling to vanish them."

"So why aren't you two helping? Too noisy, then?"

"Not for me, but Molly said she wanted a drink."

"Would you like something too, Lucy?" Molly held up a flask of pumpkin juice.

"No thanks, Molly. I think I'm going to go outside and watch the fireworks, both metaphorically and literally. I can get front row seats. You know, it doesn't sound like their most creative plan, but hell, listening to the noise outside, it seems effective." She walked past Dominique to get out of the kitchen, but she was stopped almost as soon as she opened the door.

Louis and Roxanne ran into the kitchen through the door Lucy had opened and came to a halt. In front of them, James and Fredddie appeared in thin air, laughing. "Fireworks? That was your grand scheme?" said Roxanne incredulously. "Louis was right. Negative creativity points for the both of you."

"It worked," said Freddie. "They are most certainly distracted."

"Yeah, until they come after you two," said Louis.

"Well, we better move fast, then," said James.

Dominique cleared her throat. "Oi!" At the sound of Dominique's voice, the four realized that they weren't the only ones in the room. "Where are you four headed?"

"The attic," James, Roxanne, Freddie, and Louis answered.

"Why?" asked Lucy. "Is there really a point in going to the attic?"

"Just to take a look around," replied James.

"So why do you need to cause a big fireworks display?"

"It was fun," Freddie said in his defense. "Do you three want to come with us?"

Molly turned to Dominique, who nodded. "Why not?" Dominique said. "I've never been to the attic in all these years that I've visited this house and I don't know why."

"Very well," conceded Molly, speaking only to Dominique.

"I'll come too," said Lucy. "Can't see a reason not to." The seven of them began to make their way to the attic.

Rose, Albus, and Scorpius entered the kitchen, Lily and Hugo following close behind. "Wait for us!" called Lily.

"Rose!" cried Hugo, and his sister turned at the sound of his voice.

"I think they went that way," said Rose, breathing hard and pointing to her left outside of the kitchen.

"Can we come, too?" Lily asked.

"The more the merrier. Let's go," said Albus, and the five of them followed the others to the attic.

Outside, Teddy was both mad and thankful that James and Freddie had ruined his proposal. He had quickly stuffed the ring back in his cloak pocket and proceeded to help with the fireworks. From previous experience, he knew that trying to vanish them was useless and trying to stun them was a horrible idea.

"Wish Uncle George would help more with the fireworks," grumbled Victoire as she ducked out of the way of a golden sparkler. Whenever someone pulled a prank, especially with his products, George backed up the person 100%, much to the dismay of his mother.

"James and Freddie probably read the instructions," said Teddy, watching Lily and Hugo disappear into the house. "They certainly aren't here, so we should probably go into the house and find them. Besides, the house seems to be a popular destination spot these days."

Victoire was inclined to agree, noticing that the yard was absent of all of her cousins and that throwing spells at the fireworks wasn't helping in the least. "Race you," she said with a smile.

"Prepare to lose, Vic," said Teddy. "On your mark, get set…" At that, he began to run into the house.

"Cheater!" yelled Victoire as she bolted after him.

* * *

James, followed by Freddie, was the first to make it into the attic.

"Yuck!" exclaimed Roxanne as she batted at a cobweb.

"So this is what you two were so excited to see?" asked Louis. "Looks like nothing's been up here for decades."

"I'm with Louis on this one," said Lucy. "I'd rather go outside and watch Aunt Fleur be attacked by fireworks."

"Tadda!" Freddie made a grand gesture towards the barren attic.

Someone clapped sarcastically. Everyone turned their heads to see Scorpius smirking. "Congratulations. You've managed to find nothing."

"There is something!" Freddie defended himself. "It's just a bit dark. _Lumos_." The light from his wand ignited the room, revealing its emptiness.

"This is a bit pointless," said Albus.

The cousins and Scorpius ventured further into the seemingly empty attic. "Ow!" exclaimed Dominique.

"What is it?" inquired Molly.

"I bumped into something. Look!" Everyone walked to where Dominique was standing. Louis bumped into the same object.

"Dominique's right, there is something here." He rubbed his knee. "Ow. And it's got a really sharp edge."

"Move over, Louis." James pushed his cousin out of the way and began feeling around. The surface of the object felt like fabric. "It's like there's a covering over it." He found the edge of the covering and stripped it away.

"What did we tell you?" said Freddie in delight. "What's in the box, James?"

James dug deep into the paper wrappings until he found something hard. He pulled it out and held it up for everyone to see. "A time turner," said Rose. "They don't exist anymore." Molly nodded. Everyone looked at the apparent time turner with newfound fascination.

Just then, Teddy and Victoire made their way to the attic. They saw their family gathered around James. Teddy felt as though he had to be a responsible adult for once. All the other responsible adults were in the orchard dealing with the fireworks. The two of them walked closer to the larger group. "James, Freddie," he growled. "Come and help with the fireworks you caused."

Freddie wasn't listening. "Hey James, toss it right here." Teddy saw that James was holding a time turner. Weren't there none of those around anymore?

"No!" cried everyone who wasn't James or Freddie. James disregarded their cry and tossed the time turner to Freddie. At the last millisecond, he realized something was wrong with his throw. The time turner slipped between the edges of his fingers. The throw was too short. Freddie dived for the time turner, but he didn't make it in time. The object crashed to the floor, sand spreading all over the floor and the people. Rose and Roxanne began to shout as they were lifted off the ground. The last bits of glass fell to the floor as fourteen people were whisked away to the past.

* * *

**AN: I'm planning to have them go back to the middle of the chapter "The Deathly Hallows" during the several weeks that Harry was obsessing over them. They're not all going to be with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, though (some are going to be at Hogwarts, others with other characters). **


	3. Arriving in the Past

**Chapter 3: Arriving in the Past**

**Chapter Summary: The plot finally arrives! The chapter title is pretty self-explanatory. The next generation arrives in the past and they see… lots of people.**

* * *

Teddy Lupin was experiencing a sensation much like being hurled through a tunnel. His stomach turned and he felt as if he was going to hurl, but he was moving at such a high velocity that the puke forced itself back into his throat. Colors flashed by in a blur, morphing into an endless mass of color that seemed to stretch on to infinity. His eardrums felt so compressed that they might burst. All he remembered from beforehand was the crash of the time turner dropping, the sand scattering on the floor, and the shout of someone, perhaps the high-pitched shout of Rose or Roxanne.

After what seemed like an eternity, or perhaps a second, there was a flash of white light and his body collided with something very hard and wooden. Cursing inwardly at the pain the impact had brought him, the first thing he did was check the front pocket of his robe. The ring was still there. He heard a thud and then a high-pitched voice, perhaps a woman's, saying, "What was that? I hope nothing fell or Mum's going to kill me."

A second voice, this one masculine, chuckled and replied, "I don't know, Tonks." Tonks? As in Nymphadora Tonks, his mother? The voice spoke in a more serious tone this time. "We should investigate, even if it was merely something that fell."

"Alright then, I'll be right behind you," Tonks said.

Teddy gave a start and rose to his feet when he heard another voice, this one only a few feet away and one he did recognize. "Damn. Merlin's beard. Bloody hell. Whatever James and Freddie did to make that happen, I'm going to – well, I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to do it." Teddy turned to face Louis, who was shakily getting to his feet, rubbing his head. "Yeah, that's going to leave a mark. Wait – Teddy? You're here too?" He looked around the room. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know, but get your wand out. We're not the only people here," Teddy said, thinking of the man and the woman called Tonks. Louis complied and both Teddy and Louis turned to face the stairway as they heard the pitter patter of feet descending the stairwell. Teddy quickly took in his surroundings, something he should've done immediately, and he inwardly cursed himself for his incompetence. _First rule of Auror training,_ he chided himself. _Know your surroundings, every escape route, every object that could possibly be used as a weapon. A few seconds of observation could mean the difference between life and death_. As he took in his surroundings, he noticed that he was in a small room with a doorway leading to another room and a single window he could break if need be. Okay, he found his escape routes. In the room was also a small oak bookshelf filled with large tomes and topped with various pictures of a smiling woman with bubblegum hair and an older man with sandy hair peppered with streaks of grey. His heart skipped a beat and he lowered his wand, no longer concentrating on the descent of Tonks and the man on the stairs. He recognized those familiar pictures. His parents… There was also a photo of what looked like a younger version of his grandmother.

The two people had reached the bottom of the stairs, wands raised high and ready to strike. Teddy immediately turned his attention to them. It was not the offensive position of these people that alarmed Teddy, but the sole fact that they looked exactly like the pictures on the shelf and like old photos he had seen. Old photos of his parents, who had perished in the war. "Who are you?" demanded Remus Lupin. Teddy could have collapsed right there, for as much as someone would lead you to believe, seeing and hearing your dead parents is not a reassuring experience.

Louis was a bit slow on the uptake, but he too had seen the photos of war legends, and Remus and Tonks Lupin were mighty legends indeed. He glanced at Teddy's face out of the corner of his eye. The man's hair was now a sandy color and his eyes and mouth were wide with shock. "Teddy," he said tentatively, as though the identity of the two people had come as a grave surprise to him. "Are those your parents?" he whispered. One thought crossed his mind as Tonks and Remus stared at the both of them with a mixture of confusion and anger. _Forget kindness. I am so going to get Freddie and James._

* * *

James Potter's body collided with hard stone, a harsher landing than Louis' and Teddy's. He thought that Freddie would catch the time turner, he really did. Okay, so what if the throw he had made wasn't the best? Did that justify the mauling he was about to get from every single one of his cousins and godbrother? He put a hand to his nose and pulled it away, but luckily he did not have a nosebleed. Just several rather painful bruises.

Unfortunately for James, his luck stopped at his relative lack of injuries. The cousins he had landed with were perhaps two of the worst he could have ended up with in terms of wanting to kill him. Rose was known for being a firecracker Weasley and when Roxanne got truly mad, even the bravest Gryffindors ran in terror. Rose and Roxanne hit the ground about five feet away from James, Roxanne landing on top of Rose. "Ow!" they both yelled.

"Will whoever is on me please extract their body?" hissed Rose.

"Sorry," said Roxanne. "My bad. Didn't mean to get hurled through a portal." James was keeping as quiet as possible, praying with all his might that neither Rose nor Roxanne would acknowledge his presence. He was doing a very poor job of it, though, because Roxanne spotted him almost instantly and hurled into an expected rage. She got off Rose much faster than she would have otherwise and made her way over to James, who scrambled to get up. "No physical or emotional harm! Were those not your exact words, Potter?!" She began to raise her voice, but was not reduced to hitting him. Yet. One hand was clenched by her side and the other held her wand up to James' chest. "Well, I solemnly swear to never listen to you two idiots ever again. When we get back, I will make personally sure that the both of you are locked in the cellar of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and never heard from until the both of you are forty!" James flinched.

Rose got to her feet too, but unlike her cousin, she did not abstain from violence. She smacked James once than started to shout, holding her wand to his throat. "James Sirius Potter, you bloody effing idiot, I am going to kill you! Where have you taken us?! Where has your buffoonery landed us this time!?"

At this comment, James looked around. The setting looked familiar. The three of them were standing in a familiar corridor, but what he saw written on the stone wall made his blood boil. _Dumbledore's Army Still Recruiting_, it read. "Hogwarts," he responded simply.

"What?" Rose and Roxanne both said.

"Yes, Hogwarts. And that's not the worst of it." He directed their attention to the writing on the wall.

"If that message is on the wall…" Rose's voice shook.

"Then that means…" Roxanne's voice trailed off as well.

"We're in either 1997 or 1998." Rose finished the thought. The three of them heard footsteps and as Rose and Roxanne pulled their wands away from James to deal with more pressing matters, James also drew his wand.

"The shouting came from that way. They sound like students." The voice sounded familiar.

"Could be, but no sane student would wander the halls and shout like that nowadays." All three cousins could place a name and face to that voice. Ginny Weasley-Potter.

The two people came into view. The owner of the first voice had shaggy blond hair that was sprinkled with dirt. His round face was covered in a couple long scars and bruises and he had one nasty black eye. The girl, Ginny, looked no worse for wear. Her face was too covered in bruises and cuts and her reddish-orange hair was tied back in a tight ponytail, but even that betrayed its terrible condition. "Who're you?" asked the boy, no, young man. There was a certain way in the way he presented himself that seemed older than his age, as if he had done a significant amount of growing in a short time. "What house are you?"

The three cousins knew where they had seen this young man before. Where they came from, the shaggy blond hair was clean and the scars only visible in bright, direct sunlight. While the young man before them was grimacing slightly and had a serious expression, his future counterpart was typically seen smiling as he checked students' work as he walked through the greenhouse. _Neville_, Roxanne's mind supplied incredulously. This could not be happening. Neville Longbottom was a middle-aged man.

"Mum?" said James. If he and Rose and Roxanne were right, and this was either 1997 or 1998, then his mother (and father) was younger than him. Seeing one's parent younger than oneself in the flesh is a strange concept indeed. Ginny furrowed her brow while Neville started to reply to Roxanne. However, they were interrupted.

"Who's up!?" came a cackling voice, one filled with malice. "Students who wander the hallways are to be punished you know."

"Amycus," hissed Ginny.

"Quick, we have to move now," said Neville. Everyone agreed questions could wait. "Follow Ginny and I." They all bolted down the corridor and made several turns before reaching a large black door. They were all slightly winded, but Neville and Ginny knew Amycus personally and the thought of an infamous Death Eater chasing them was enough to keep the three time travelers running. Rose begin to slow, but James grabbed her wrist and ran at full speed.

The door shut behind them as Amycus cursed. "I will find who was out tonight. You have to return to your dorm sometime, you know."

Behind the closed door, Roxanne and Rose were free to attack James in any way they wished and he knew it. None of them acknowledged the presence of Ginny or Neville yet. Rose shook her arm free and James backed away, never turning his gaze away from his furious cousins. "In my defense, Freddie dropped it, not me!"

Both Roxanne and Rose still looked furious, but they turned toward Neville and Ginny. "So it's true, then? You are Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley?" Rose had to make sure, calculate all the variables.

"Yes, we are," Neville confirmed. "And who are you three? I haven't seen you around before."

Ginny spoke. "Why is it so surprising that we are Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley?" She turned toward James. "And why did you call me 'mum?' I think I'm a little young to have a kid, never mind one who looks like he could surpass me in age."

"What year is it?" asked Rose.

"What does that have to do with telling us who you are?"

"Everything. Please, Au-Ginny. Just tell us the date."

Perhaps Ginny could sense the desperation in Roxanne's voice, for she answered, "Today is March 5, 1998."

James felt as if it was his turn to speak. "Now, I know this might sound a little weird to you, but I'm your son from 2022, and these are my cousins, Roxie and Rose."

* * *

Of all the places to end up, Victoire and Lily landed in one of the worst. There was a single flash of light, but after that, all was dark. Lily, who loved the sunshine, thought the place smelled of despair. Despair had a funny smell to it, like rotting carcass and mold.

A few seconds after Victoire landed on the floor, she drew her wand and whispered, "Lumos." She checked herself over for injuries, but determined there were no serious ones.

"May I ask who's there?" The voice was dreamy, but under all that Victoire could hear the seriousness and slight fear in the question.

"Yes, who else have they brought in?" This voice was shaky and slightly raspy. The man sounded hopeful at the suggestion of company.

"Victoire Weasley."

"Lily Potter." The two cousins spoke simultaneously. Victoire hurried over to Lily, the dim light of her wand lighting the way.

"Lily? Are you okay? Are you hurt in any way?"

"No, Vic, I'm fine," said Lily. "Just a little bruised from the fall. I'll be okay."

"Weasley? Potter?" A third voice said this and finally, Victoire turned her attention away from Lily and shined light on her surroundings. The room she was in was dark, the walls and floor made from dark grey stone tiles. Chains hung on the walls and attached to these chains were the people who had spoken. One of these people was an old man, his hair wispy and white and his skin a few sizes too large for his body. The second was a girl who seemed familiar, with dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. The third person in the room, or cellar, Victoire supposed, was not a person at all, but a goblin. The fourth person was a black boy, or man, his face bruised and bloodied. It was he who had asked the question.

"Where are we?" asked Lily, who had gotten up to kneel beside Victoire.

"Malfoy Manor," responded the black boy. "We were all dragged in here when they found us. I got captured and taken in with Griphhook, here." He gestured toward the goblin, who grunted in response.

"I was going home for Christmas to see Daddy," said the girl sadly. "I was riding on the train when it stopped and the Death Eaters pulled me out, saying they were taking me someplace because Daddy said things in his paper about supporting Harry Potter. I'm lucky they didn't send me to Azkaban like they did others."

"And I," said the old man, "am here because You-Know-Who wanted to question me." A shiver went down his spine and he said no more.

"You know," said the girl, "you look very surprised. How did you get here, then? Did they somehow zap you in through the flash of light?" She sat up straighter.

The goblin spoke for the first time. "Whoever you are, undo these chains, if you'd be so kind."

"You still haven't answered my question," insisted the boy. "Victoire Weasley and Lily Potter? I suppose you could be a Weasley cousin, but you don't look it." It was true, Victoire looked nothing like a typical Weasley with her long blond hair and almost flawless facial features; the only thing that hinted at her father's side of the family was the dusting of freckles across her face. "And as far as I know, Harry has no other relatives besides that aunt, uncle, and cousin of his."

Victoire and Lily did not respond to any of their companions, as they were in shock. They were in Malfoy Manor, a place none of the family besides Rose and Albus had ever ventured. Every person in the Wizarding world knew about the famous Harry Potter's family, including Lily Luna. Speaking of Luna, the girl's story sounded familiar to one they had heard Luna Scamander tell. As for the man's comment, he spoke of You-Know-Who, and Lord Voldemort had died in 1998. That could only mean one thing…

"Oh James, Freddie, what have you done," groaned Lily.

"James? Freddie? Who are they?" asked the girl. "I know a Freddie, and he's a Weasley, too, but he just goes by Fred." She noticed Victoire's expression. "It's alright. I've noticed a significant increase in nargles ever since the war started. You should probably lie down."

Victoire finally found her voice. "No, I'm quite alright. The… nargles aren't bothering me that much. I will tell you how we are related to the Weasleys and Potters if you each tell me your names."

"Luna Lovegood," said the girl, confirming Victoire's and Lily's fears.

"Dean Thomas."

"Ollivander."

"Griphook."

"And the year?" asked Victoire, even though she already had a terrible feeling she knew.

"We told you our names, now you tell us who exactly you are."

"Please, Dean," said Lily. "This is important."

"Oh for Merlin's sake," said Griphook. "It's 1998. Now answer the boy's question."

Victoire and Lily exchanged a look before Victoire began to speak. "1998… the time turner…" She took a deep breath and when she spoke again, she sounded more confident. "I know you may think we're crazy, and I really, really hope we are, because where we come from, it's 2022."

"You're barking," gasped Dean.

"No, Dean," said Luna. "She's telling the truth. You can see it in her eyes."

As everybody gazed more intently at Victoire's brown eyes, she continued. "Yes, well it is… was… 2022 and I'm the daughter of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour…"

"And I'm the daughter of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley," finished Lily. Everybody turned to look at her and Dean narrowed his eyes slightly at the mention of his former girlfriend. "Yes, Harry survived the war," she said, as if she had read all their thoughts.

"How? How does he defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be named?" asked Ollivander, his eyes bugging out. "Of course…"

"He survived the war and had three children. Lily's the youngest, James is the oldest, and Albus is his middle child."

"Well, Harry would give his children those names." Dean smiled slightly, but his grin faded into a grimace when they heard a woman's voice.

"Suppertime," she said. "Last meal you lot are going to get for twelve hours, so you better enjoy it."

"Hide!" hissed Dean, and Victoire and Lily scrambled to a corner out of view of the doorway. Victoire and Lily held their breaths, Victoire clutching the younger girl to her chest, as Narcissa Malfoy slowly opened the door to her own basement.

* * *

If James ended up with the cousins most likely to cause him bodily harm, then Freddie should have considered himself lucky to land upon a soft surface, a comfy couch, Molly Weasley II plopping into a leather chair. Molly was known for being a pacifist, never raising a hand to a single person and hardly ever shouting. "Where are we?" wondered Molly, who was straightening her glasses. "This doesn't appear to be the attic."

"Excellent effing deduction, genius," said Freddie.

"Freddie." Molly narrowed her eyes at Freddie. She quickly stood up and made her way over to Freddie, raising a hand.

"Going to hit me, Molly?" asked Freddie quietly with a smirk on his face. Molly's self-control returned as and she lowered her hand, she took a quick look around the room.

"I recognize this place," She took note of the maroon sofa, the leather chairs. The wooden bookshelf filled with volumes of _Witch Weekly_ and _The Daily Prophet_. "We're at Great-Great Auntie Muriel's."

"Shit!" exclaimed Freddie. "I take it back; I deserve to be hit, transporting us to Muriel's. How did that..." he smacked himself on the head. Molly cocked her brow at him. "The time turner! I dropped it! You know, it's James' fault for that lousy throw."

Molly gave him a look of disbelief. "The place seems different than the last time I was here."

"Of course it was! When was that, anyways? I haven't been here in five years, and as boring as your father is, even he hates Muriel."

"My father is not boring," said Molly indignantly, glaring at Freddie. "And please, stop insulting him. For your information, I was here last year when Muriel was throwing out some of her old magazines and thought I might like some. She heard I liked to read."

"Serves you right for reading, then."

The commotion did not go unnoticed by the other occupants of the house. The Potterwatch team had stopped by to prepare their next broadcast. After Ron had been spotted flying away from Xenophillius' house, Molly (the first), Arthur, Fred, and George had been holed up at Auntie Muriel's house, though Fred (and sometimes George) needed to move around so the death eaters wouldn't catch them. The Potterwatch team minus Remus (Kingsley, Lee, Fred, and George) and plus Mrs. Weasley were in the kitchen. Auntie Muriel had retired to her bedroom after taking one glance at the visitors ("all those damn people… can't you do your stupid talk show somewhere else?") "What was that?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"I dunno. George, did you leave one of those decoy detonators lying around?"

"No, but I got one in my pocket. Lee? Have you been stealing valuable Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes merchandise?"

"Why would I need to do that? You give me that stuff for free, and all I've got is this darkness powder."

"It came from the living room," said Kingsley. "Possibly Death Eaters. Wands out, we're going in. Everybody, follow me and stay quiet. That means you, Fred and George."

"What about me? Can I burst in screaming?"

"No, Lee. These people could mean business, and I wouldn't be surprised if they brought friends." Everybody rose to their feet and filed in behind Kingsley, Molly bringing up the rear. Kingsley stopped at the doorway and gave a signal that clearly said, 'halt.'

Kingsley saw the two intruders in full view and the rest of the group caught a glimpse. They didn't look like Death Eaters. The female was dressed in purple head-to-toe, from the large bow tying back her hair to her shirt and ankle-length skirt. The male was sporting jeans and a goldenrod shirt and sneakers that clashed magnificently with the female's outfit. From what Kingsley could tell, the man bore a distinct resemblance to the twins behind him, only his skin was dark and his hair was black and wiry. The woman had curly red hair and wore a pair of square glasses. The two neither seemed to notice or care that they had company as they continued their conversation. Kingsley gave everyone a look that told them all to stay quiet.

"My father is not boring," said the woman. "And please, stop insulting him. For your information, I was here last year when Muriel was throwing out some of her old magazines and thought I might like some. She heard I liked to read." Everybody exchanged a look at the mention of Muriel. When had this woman met her?

"Serves you right for reading, then."

The woman had no response to the man's comment. "So the time turner fell, sand scattering everywhere." She said this mainly to herself. "And the next thing we know, we are being pulled through a tunnel."

"I know, Molly," said the man. The Potterwatch team looked back at Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley, for the most part, remained unsurprised. She had met other people named Molly.

"I know you know. However, that is not the point. The point is that we are in Aunt Muriel's house and resting on that shelf is a magazine I know for a fact she gave to me and did not have extra copies. Now, please be quiet so I can fix your mess. I just hope everyone else is all right or you and James will be the ones answering to all of our parents, Fred Lee Weasley."

This comment had a more defined reaction from everybody in the vicinity. Freddie was speechless and slightly humored, as he had never heard Molly say so many words to him in his life, and a small threat, at that. Everyone else was shocked because this man was named Fred Weasley, and there was only one known individual with that name. As Kingsley could hold his curiosity no longer, he gestured for his companions to move. Molly and Freddie found themselves face to face with Kingsley, Fred, George, Lee, and Mrs. Weasley, whose wands were pointed directly at them. Freddie and Molly gave a start as they saw George standing next to a man who looked exactly like him, plus a second ear.

Molly pulled out her wand and everybody's focus was directed immediately at her. _"Protocol,"_ said Dominique's voice in her head. _"To show you aren't a threat and if you know they aren't, either, lay your wand at your feet to show you mean them no harm_._"_ Molly slowly laid her wand at her feet. "Freddie," she whispered. "Place your wand at your feet." Everybody's attention was directed at Freddie as he too got out his wand and wordlessly laid it at his feet.

"Who are you two?" demanded Kingsley in his powerful voice.

"Yeah. There's only one Fred Weasley and I'm him."

Molly and Freddie glanced at one another. Freddie had the decency to look slightly guilty. "My dear cousin-" Molly glared at him as if to say, _don't bring me into this madness by mentioning we're related. _"Okay, maybe not-so-dear cousin and I were in the attic of the Burrow a few moments ago where we found this time turner and my other cousin – I have quite a lot of them, you see – well, he was throwing a time turner rather badly at me when we were sucked through a portal and brought here."

Fred, George, and Lee started laughing. "Good one, man!" complimented Lee.

"Attic of the Burrow… the attic of the Burrow had nothing but a ghoul!" exclaimed George.

"Sucked through a portal and randomly ended up here… how thick do we look to you?" said Fred.

"Fred, George, Lee, quiet!" said Mrs. Weasley. "There are things in the attic, but they were hidden in boxes and covered with invisibility cloaks! When Septimus Weasley was disowned from the Black family, he built the Burrow and stored his old possessions in the attic. When your father and I inherited the house, we hid all the items because we didn't want them damaged. No one ever went up there anyways because of the ghoul."

"It is true. The attic looked entirely empty until Dominique bumped into something," Molly explained. "It makes sense now! The boxes were hidden for years. With the destruction of all time turners in the Department of Ministries in 1995, the only ones who would own time turners are old wizarding families. Septimus could have taken one with him when he was disowned."

"You certainly are chatty today," commented Freddie. "But the real question is, where, or rather when, are we now? The time turner dropped, so we must have been sent back in time. That's why Dad and Minister Shacklebolt and Grandmum look younger!" _Look who's stating the obvious now_, Molly thought.

"Today is March 5, 1998," Kingsley said slowly. "When are you two from?"

The two cousins exchanged mutual glances of unease and realization. If the date was March 5, 1998, then they were nearing the climax of the second wizarding war. Lord Voldemort held control over the wizarding British Empire. "Shit," Freddie muttered.

Molly had gone off in her own little world and was quoting _Hogwarts, A Revised History _to herself under her breath. "On August 1, 1997, the Ministry fell. You-Know-Who killed the previous minister, Rufus Scrimgeor. On August 5, the Ministry named Harry Potter 'Undesirable Number One,' but the Boy-Who-Lived was traveling the countryside with Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, searching for a way to destroy You-Know-Who. On August 28, the Ministry stated that all students of wizarding descent were to attend Hogwarts, but not muggleborn witches or wizards. On August 29, the ministry issued the muggleborn registration act, in which hundreds were persecuted unless they could prove they had at least one magical relative. On May 2, 1998, the side of the light were victorious in the Battle of Hogwarts which claimed many lives, including those of esteemed war heroes Re-" she cut herself off there, noticing that everyone was watching her.

"When are you two from?" demanded Kingsley, and this time he put more force into his voice.

"June 28, 2022," responded Freddie. "And, for the record, I am completely screwed." _Aren't we all?_ thought Molly.

* * *

Dominique landed on her bottom on cold stone tiles. She scrambled to get up, but second later she was pushed to the ground by the force of someone landing on her. Dominique quickly pushed the person off and stood up, pointing her wand at the person. The person was sprawled on the ground, hair, straight and black with pink streaks, obscuring her face. She looked up and Dominique lowered her wand. "Luce?" She helped her cousin up.

"Dominique? Thanks. Where are the others?" Dominique and Lucy took in their surroundings. The place looked like Diagon Alley if a hoard of dementors decided to devour it. The shops were boarded up or had luminous candles glowing in the windows. It was practically empty except for the sounds of rats and the odd person scuffling down the street. There were no signs anywhere of their other relatives or Scorpius and Teddy.

"I don't know," Dominique said slowly. "This could be Diagon Alley, but everything's closed." She shivered. "And it's freezing." It was more than that, they both knew. The cold had a sense of fear and foreboding to it.

"I am going to kill James and Freddie! It was them, wasn't it, they dropped that time turner and we ended up here." Lucy seemed to have realized what she said. "Oh Merlin. _Time turner_. I thought they were all destroyed over 20 years ago."

"This one looked different. Molly showed me some of her books once and those time turners were attached to chains like a necklace."

"Might as well see when James and Freddie took us." She began to go down the alley and into the main street, but Dominique stopped her.

"Are you crazy?" said Dominique. "We could be anywhere and in any time period. Get your wand out, and we're going to do this slowly and quietly." She locked her grey eyes with Lucy's hazel ones. Lucy seemed to want to disregard Dominique for a split second, but then her eyes softened and she rummaged through her pockets, which contained a small booklet on Quidditch, some Bertie and Botts every flavor beans, two sickles, and her wand, which she pulled out and held up. "Right. Follow my lead."

The two of them sauntered down the dark alley, Lucy following Dominique. They reached an intersection and Dominique held her hand out to tell Lucy to stop moving forward. Dominique stuck her head out into the main street to check if the coast was clear. "Is everything okay?" asked Lucy, eager to find out when they were.

"Looks that way," responded Dominique. The two cousins walked into the main street, where they could see the complete ruin of Diagon Alley. Not only were windows boarded up, but some shops had been broken into and vandalized. A whispy figure floated in the distance.

There was a crinkling sound and both Dominique and Lucy jumped. Lucy lifted her foot to reveal a sheet of paper beneath her feet. She picked it up. "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes," she read aloud quietly. "Charms, pranks and more. Disclaimer: Fred and George Weasley are not responsible for any long-lasting trauma you may experience."

"Give that to me," said Dominique, prying the paper from Lucy's hands and skimming through the words. When she handed the paper back to Lucy, their eyes met and they both were thinking the same thing: _Fred Weasley?_

The two of them saw a figure and heard the clamor of boots coming towards them before they could do anything. Both of them held death grips on their wands and turned toward the sound of the noise. Four people were rushing toward them, their wands held aloft. The leader was the second tallest and his face was obscured by a scarf. His companions shrunk into the shadows. "Who are you two?" he demanded. "Hardly anyone wanders these streets anymore unless…" The man's voice was gruff and Dominique and Lucy could not place it.

"They've got something to hide?" Lucy finished the man's sentence.

"I repeat, what business do you have at Diagon Alley? Every shop is closed."

"So why are you here, then?" asked Dominique. "And I've lost track of the time. Could you please tell me what today's date is?"

"March 1998," said the man. He took note of the shocked expressions on the young women's faces. "Are you two running from something?" He looked at them and though they could not see his face, his tone was bordering on accusatory. "What are your names?"

Lucy found her voice first with difficulty. "Lucy and Dominique…"

"Jin," finished Dominique, frightened that Lucy was going to give away their real last name. Didn't she know what they did to Weasleys during this time? Only one Weasley was not being hunted down. Though in hindsight, it wasn't the brightest idea to use her aunt's maiden name, even if she was a muggle.

"Jin…" The man looked strangely at Dominique and Lucy. "You two are related?"

"Sisters," said Lucy.

"Cousins," said Dominique.

The man looked at the two of them in disbelief. Dominique's claim was not only true, it was believable. She and Lucy looked nothing like sisters. Dominique had pale skin and seemed to emanate a fake glow. She was voluptuous and wore dark lipstick and heavy green eyeliner. Lucy was half-Chinese on her mother's side, and while Molly was almost white passing and looked more similar to her father, Lucy had inherited her mother's looks. Lucy and Molly looked more like sisters than Lucy and Dominique did. "Well, are you two sisters or cousins?"

"I was joking. Lucy was right; we are sisters," said Dominique, and she put a hint of Veela power into her speech. Lucy picked up on it and frowned at Dominique.

The man thought for a moment and both cousins held their breaths. Which side was this man on? Eventually, the man came to a decision. "We're going somewhere safe for a couple of days. Then we're moving on. We can get you two out of England in a couple of weeks, if you want. Decide quickly because the portkey is leaving soon."

Dominique and Lucy huddled together. "1998?" said Lucy weakly. "I suppose that explains the state of this place. Anyways, maybe we should go with him."

"This is 1998, Lucy!" Dominique raised her voice slightly. Her mind was split in two minds about what they should do. "The man cannot be trusted. We're better off…"

"Roaming the countryside? You've heard the tales probably more times than I have, Dominique."

Dominique thought for a second before speaking to the man. "And how do we know this isn't a trap to lure muggleborns?"

"You don't. But in a few minutes is when Snatchers most love to come out," he said, picking up on their conversation. "And they have registries."

Dominique had a minute to think and hoped she wouldn't regret her next words. "We're in," she said. "Where is the portkey?"

"In that shop over there." The man pointed to a closed store whose windows were boarded up. He gestured for his three companions to follow him. They too kept their faces covered and their heads down. "We must hurry." The man and his companions ran towards the shop. Dominique and Lucy paused for a couple seconds before following them. As she ran, Lucy's Quidditch booklet fell out of her pockets, as it was not in there very deep. She did not notice, however, and continued following the man down the streets.

The man pushed aside a board of wood so they could enter the shop. It was practically barren, but in the center was a glowing blue teacup. "Everybody in?" he said. "Good."

The six of them walked over to the cup and put one finger each on it. Dominique and Lucy stood side-by-side. "We'll find the others," reassured Dominique.

"As soon as we get to safety," added Lucy.

"If that's where we're headed," said Dominique uncertainly. There was no time to back out, as the glow got brighter and brighter, Dominique and Lucy felt sharp tugs at their navels as they were whisked away to wherever the portkey took them.

* * *

"So, how about those Horcruxes?" said Ron nervously. "They could be anywhere. You said he worked for that Borgin fellow, right, Harry? Maybe he gave the cup or something to him, and Borgin hid it, like in a secret room in his shop?"

Harry yawned. He had had enough of those damn Horcruxes. They weren't going to get anywhere with them. "Ron, I doubt You-Know-Who would leave the Horcruxes in the hands of another after what happened with the diary," said Hermione. "Even if You-Know-Who did leave something that valuable in the hands of a servant, he would leave it with his most dedicated disciples. Harry, are you even paying attention?" Harry had nodded off to sleep.

"What? Oh, sorry Hermione. We aren't going to get anywhere with the Horcruxes. We haven't for a long time. We should be searching for the Hallows like Dumbledore wanted! He wanted me to win. He wanted me to be the master of death." Harry was exhausted. He didn't know what Dumbledore wanted him to do anymore.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance. "Maybe you should take a nap, mate. You're becoming a bit obsessed with those Hallows."

"Obsessed? With the both of you it's always Horcruxes, Horcruxes, Horcruxes! And you say I'm the one with the obsession?"

"Harry, it is our mission to find the Horcruxes. Dumbledore entrusted it to us. It was his dying wish," said Hermione. "And besides that, at least we know Horcruxes exist. Hallows don't, and logic dictates that it is easier to find something that does exist than something that doesn't."

"The cloak Hermione!" Harry ran over to his cot and pulled it out for good measure. "It exists! And-" He did not complete his thought, for at that moment, the three friends heard several crashes.

"What was that?" whispered Ron.

"Under the cloak," instructed Harry. "And wands at the ready. We are going to investigate." The two nodded and all three of them slipped under the cloak and quietly walked outside the tent. With the protective charms surrounding them, they were all still invisible to the outside world.

The sun was setting and the sky was streaked with purple and orange, but the three still got a clear view of what was going on. 'Harry' and 'Draco' were lying on the forest floor so close to one another that their fingertips were touching. 'Harry' shakily rose to his feet and rubbed his head. 'Draco' reached out to him and 'Harry' helped him up. Harry watched on in confusion as he saw himself help up Draco Malfoy. Next to him, Ron mouthed, 'what the hell?'

Both boys were on their feet by now. "Where are we? Do you recall being transported to a forest?" asked 'Harry,' though his voice seemed higher than Harry and when compared to 'Draco,' he was visibly shorter, while Harry and Malfoy were close to the same height.

"I remember you brother and cousin being idiots like usual," said 'Draco.' "I am going to murder your brother the next time I see him."

"You'll have to get in line. I bet Rose is making a sign up list right now."

"I'd love to see what she's going to do to them," said 'Draco' gleefully. "I hope she uses the furnunculus curse, she's gotten quite good at that one."

At the mention of the word 'Rose,' someone stirred. "Al? Scorpion? You're here, too? Ow, I landed in a tree."

"Hugo?" asked Al (or was it Scorpion? Either way, it was the Harry look-a-like. Harry decided to call him Al, because there was no way someone who looked like him could have a name as ridiculous as 'Scorpion.').

"Right..here…Al," responded Hugo. "How did we get to the forest? The time turner Freddie didn't catch?" There was a sound of rustling leaves as Al and Scorpion pulled Hugo out of the tree. The brown-haired boy stood a head below the other two.

"There may be more people," said Al. "Hugo, did you see anyone else?"

"No, I just heard you two."

"We should see if there's anyone else. We can all hunt down James and Freddie together," said Scorpion. "Anyone there?" he called out. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another, all thinking the same thing. _James? Freddie?_

"They don't look too harmful," said Harry. "I want to know why that one, 'Al,' looks almost like a young carbon copy of me and why Draco, or 'Scorpion' as he's called now, is with him."

"Polyjuice?" suggested Ron.

"Who would want to polyjuice as Harry? Undesirable Number One, remember? Besides, he looks a bit short to be seventeen. And Harry, that's a horrible idea. What if they're trying to lure you into a trap?"

"But they don't know we're here," countered Harry. "If they did, they would ambush us." He pulled the cloak off his shoulders and strolled into the clearing.

"Are you barking?" Ron almost shouted at Harry, but realized it would be against his better judgment.

"Harry, no," whispered Hermione. She too shed the cloak off her shoulders and ran after Harry, Ron close behind her and carrying the cloak.

Scorpius, Albus, and Hugo heard Harry approach. Albus' eyes widened as he saw himself older and taller, with facial hair and a lightning bolt scar. Harry looked directly at Albus' face and noticed that this version of him looked younger and was without a scar. Hermione and Ron came after Harry, wands drawn. "What're you doing here, Malfoy? Did you bring some Death Eater friends, too?"

"Ron," said Harry, "I don't think they're Death Eaters. They look a little young." He looked especially at Hugo, who was thirteen.

"I am not a Death Eater," said Scorpius. "But I do not deny that my name is Malfoy."

"All Malfoys are Death Eaters!" exclaimed Ron.

"Scorpius is not a Death Eater!" Al felt the need to defend his friend.

"Then who are you? And why do you look so much like Harry?" asked Hermione.

"That's it," said Hugo at the sight of younger versions of his parents and uncle. "I've decided this is a dream. I fell asleep in the grass and James and Freddie are doing all sorts of horrible things to my sleeping body. There is no way Uncle Harry could look like that. He's in his forties, for Merlin's sake!"

"I don't think I could've dreamt that possible concussion," said Scorpius, rubbing the back of his head in memory of the fall and being looked at threateningly by Ron.

"Wait, Uncle Harry? In my forties?"

Albus looked uncomfortable. "Well, funny thing, but where we're from, Harry Potter is my dad and a forty-something year old war veteran."

"And what year are you from?" asked Hermione.

"2022. We were just at a family reunion when we went into the attic and there was a – anyways, what year is this?" said Hugo, though he had a bad feeling he might know the answer.

"1997 or 1998," answered Albus. "Isn't that right, er Hermione, is it?"

"Yes and yes. However, that is not possible. There is no device that can send a person that far back in time. I read every single book I could find on the subject in my third year."

"Tell that to James and Freddie," said Hugo. "Their stupidity transcends logic."

"What about a broken time turner? Al's idiot brother and their idiot cousin broke a time turner. It looked like an old one, too."

Hermione thought for a moment. "Well, we shattered a bunch of time turners at the Ministry a couple years ago and nothing happened to us."

"This time turner was different than all the other pictures I've seen, though," said Albus. "I mean, it was large, as big as a quaffle. It had these funny markings on it too, in some ancient language, it looked like."

The wind whistled through the trees as the last traces of sunlight faded from the forest. "Whatever happened, we should get back to the tent," said Harry.

"I agree. It's gotten dark and we aren't under the invisibility cloak. Perhaps you three should come with us. We have enough room."

"Hermione, am I the only sane one here?" gawked Ron. "I mean, these kids appear right out of nowhere telling us they're from the future and you just believe them?"

Hugo was mildly offended that his own dad (of course it was his dad, he was in the middle of a forest with his mom and Uncle Harry) didn't believe him. "So you're just going to leave us here, Da- I mean, Ron?"

"We could tell you some things, things that only you would know?" suggested Scorpius.

"Like how you broke up with Ginny Weasley at the beginning of the year for her own safety, Harry?" challenged Albus. "Or how your wand was recently destroyed upon confronting Vol- You-Know-Who's snake?"

"Or," added Hugo, "how you, Mu- Hermione, erased your parents' memories and sent them to Australia? And do you even want me to say what you saw in the locket, Ron?"

Harry seemed uncomfortable and Ron had a panicked expression on his face. He was thankful for the darkness concealing his blush. "These kids are completely trustworthy," he said a little too quickly. _Even if one of them looks like Malfoy and is named Scorpius/Scorpion_. "Let's go back to the tent. You never know what could happen if we wait any longer."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron. "What did that boy, Hugo, mean when he said 'what you saw in the locket?'"

"Nothing special. I'm getting a bit chilly is all."

"You're wearing two shirts!"

"Hermione, it really was nothing," reassured Harry as they made their way back to the tent, Albus, Scorpius in Hugo in their wake.

"My parents are going never going to let us never going to let us out of their sight again," groaned Albus. "Just right after they murder James."

"Dad is never going to let me leave the house or speak to your family again. Getting dragged right into the heart of the war…" said Scorpius.

"And where are the others?" wondered Hugo. "If we landed here, where did they end up? Teddy and Dominique and Lily and Rose…" His statement received nothing but silence.

* * *

**AN: This was a long one to write! I think the other chapters will be shorter because I'm not going switch between different characters as much in a single chapter and try to cram them all i****n. **


	4. Of Lupins and Time Travel Theories

**Chapter 4: Of Lupins and Time Travel Theories**

**AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited!**

**Chapter summary: Teddy and Louis meet Teddy's parents. Meanwhile, Molly and Freddie talk with the Potterwatch team and each other.**

* * *

_ "Are those your parents?" he whispered. One thought crossed his mind as Tonks and Remus stared at the both of them with a mixture of confusion and anger. Forget kindness. __I am so going to get Freddie and James._

Over the years, Teddy had gained a certain level of control over his metamorphagus powers, which often came in handy when disguising emotions such as anger or infatuation. However, the dizziness from being hurled through time and the shock of seeing his parents _alive_ and right in front of him addled his brains. As Teddy looked at Louis as if to say, _what in Merlin's name possessed you to say such a thing?_, the tips of his sandy hair began to redden before he noticed and returned his hair to its normal state. This did not go unnoticed by Tonks.

Louis knew he had said something wrong, but the question came out before he could stop it. Teddy gave a noncommittal jerk of his head in Remus and Tonks' direction and Louis understood.

"Lower your wands," Remus demanded in a steady voice. "Place them on the ground and do not touch them." Teddy and Louis did as they were told.

"Who are you?" She repeated Remus' question and pointed her wand at Teddy while Remus had his directed at Louis. "And what do you mean: are those your parents?" Teddy opened his mouth to speak. "Answer truthfully." She was confused. The man looked so much like Remus with that sandy hair and those amber eyes. He even had the same nose as Remus.

Remus, for his part was baffled too. The man looked like Dora with his heart shaped face and hadn't his hair just turned red?

"Can me and my… cousin go in another room and talk for a bit?" Louis regretted saying the question as soon as it came out of his mouth.

"So you two can confirm your story? Sorry boys, but I was an Auror. I know practically every trick in the book. Now tell me who you are." Her eyes bore into Teddy and when they did, he found that he could not lie.

"I am… we are… There was this incident, you see, and I'm afraid we got stuck in the past." Looking at the bulge of his mother's stomach, he realized with a jolt what year it was and brief flashes of what he wanted to do to James and Freddie passed through his mind.

"The past?" asked Remus. "When are you from?" He kept his guard up. Perhaps the Death Eaters were trying to distract them. He would do anything to protect Dora and their unborn child.

"The thing is, our cousins are complete idiots," said Louis. "James shouldn't have thrown that time turner and Freddie shouldn't have tried to catch it. And I definitely shouldn't have listened to those two and Roxie. And now we don't know where any of them are." He smiled sadly. "I can only imagine what their parents are going to do to them."

"Time turner?" asked Tonks. "Now I know you two are lying; all of the time turners were destroyed two years ago."

_Legimens_, thought Remus, probing into Teddy's mind. He felt his father's probe and pushed him out. "I happen to be an Auror too," he said. "Compulsory training. I will let you search my mind, but if you go in too far I will push you out." _This is the first time I've ever talked back to my father_, he thought sadly.

"Agreed. But you must let me see what I need to." With that, he performed the spell again and Teddy's life flashed before his eyes. _Teddy being read a bedtime story by Andromeda. Teddy holding onto a broom as tight as possible while Harry gave him his first flying lesson. Teddy arriving at Hogwarts, nervous to live up to his parents' and godfather's name. Teddy laughing at one of Victoire's jokes, then a later memory of him kissing her for the first time. Harry showing Teddy an album with pictures of…_ The flashes stopped and Teddy pushed Remus out with such force that the older man stumbled backward. Tonks touched the tip of her wand to Teddy's chin and was about to say an incantation.

"No, Dora, it's okay!" said Remus, catching his balance. "He's not a Death Eater, and neither is the blondish one."

"Then what happened?" Tonks asked, her wand still pointed at Teddy.

"I warned you not to go in too far," Teddy said quietly. "That album is personal… there are some things you shouldn't see."

"So who are you, then?" asked Tonks. "You've avoided the question long enough."

"I'm Louis Weasley, the son of Bill and Fleur Weasley. As Teddy said, we're from the future. Last time I checked, it was 2022."

"That makes sense; I saw you in some of the memories. You have two sisters, don't you?"

"Yes, Victoire is 21 and Dominique is 19. I'm 17. And I was only partially telling the truth when I said he and I were cousins. You see-"

"You're my son, aren't you?" Tonks asked. "That's what Louis meant when he said 'Aren't those your parents, Teddy?'" Teddy nodded slowly.

Remus looked at him with wide eyes. _This_ was who was in Tonks' womb right now. This man, whose entire life he probably ruined. He gave a small involuntary movement before remembering the words of Harry and Tonks. How Harry berated him for abandoning his wife. How Dora warned, in a tired voice, that if he left her again he wouldn't be returning. Remus stood his ground. "Are you…"

"No, D-dad." He stumbled through the foreign word. He hadn't called anybody _Dad_ since he was three and called Harry that. "My name is Teddy Remus Lupin and I'm not a werewolf." Relief washed over Remus' face.

"He does get a bit cranky around the full moon, though," added Louis. "But Dad does, too."

"I do have metamorphagus powers, though." Teddy made one of Lily's favorites, turning his hair lime green (he personally favored turquoise), turning his nose into a duck bill, and widening his eyes, changing them to a bright purple color. He then returned to normal, albeit returning his hair to his favorite shade of turquoise.

Tonks' face broke out into a huge smile as she moved forward to hug her son. Because of her pregnancy, however, she could not reach all the way around him. Remus stood back, unsure of what to do. Should he hug his son like Dora? He extended a hand and Teddy extended his, reaching from underneath his mother's arms. Tonks, however, had other ideas. She pulled her husband into the hug. He paused for a moment, and then embraced his wife and child.

Louis stood lamely to the side as he watched the family moment unfold. He scratched the back of his neck. Who was he to deny Teddy the chance to meet his parents? As his parents' arms wrapped around Teddy, Louis noticed, he gave a small jump and a small yelp escaped his lips. Teddy's body went rigid for a moment before he relaxed into his parents' embrace, burrowing his head into his mother's shoulder and curling his arms around both of his parents. Louis had to berate himself not to cry at the sight. After all, he was seventeen now, an adult man, and adults didn't do that, at least that's what Louis believed. But then again, he mused, one of the reasons Teddy had his face concealed by his mother's hair was probably to conceal tears.

The hug dragged on for many seconds, possibly several minutes as each Lupin clung to one another. Louis couldn't bring himself to break them up, to remind Teddy that yes, while it was nice and all that he could meet his parents, it was a wonder that time and space hadn't imploded, or possibly exploded. If Tonks was that pregnant with Teddy, it had to be 1998. Wonderful. Was everyone else in 1998, too? And if so, where? And how the hell were they going to get back?

Louis took the time to straighten out his robes and hair. No sense being stuck in the past in a dangerous year if you didn't look your best. Then, he checked his pockets, finding no way to contact anyone else, only a silver sickle, a stick of Drooble's best blowing gum, a small mirror and comb, and a liquorish wand. That was really helpful. He could buy something in one of the closed shops, chew some gum or have a piece of candy if he got bored enough, and style his hair. The latter sounded like the best option, so he checked himself out in the mirror. In the corner of the reflection he saw that Teddy, Remus, and Tonks had broken apart. He quickly stuffed the mirror back in his pocket and turned toward them.

For a second, Louis could have sworn that the whites of Teddy's eyes had turned pink, but he blinked and his eyes had returned to their normal state. The corners of his mouth were tilted upwards ever so slightly and he was standing up straighter than he had before. Tonks and Remus stood beside them, their hands still resting on his shoulders. For a few seconds they stood like this, not knowing what to say before Remus said, "So, son, tell me about yourself."

_Tell me about yourself_. Teddy hated that question. There was so much to say, so much that he didn't know if he should say. Should he tell them how he grew up with his grandmother and Harry, visiting their graves at least once a month if not more? Tell them how everywhere he went he was told stories of his parents, fantastical heroes who had given their lives during the war? Or should he lie and say that they had a close relationship and they had taught them everything he knew about being a man? His father had seen the memories, seen how neither he nor Tonks appeared in a single one. He had almost caught a glimpse of the album, the one filled with all the pictures of Tonks and Remus Harry had gathered (including those on that shelf not ten feet to the right) and given to him for his eleventh birthday. He decided the best bet was to give as much general information as humanly possible. "Well, I was in Gryffindor, sorry, M-mum."

Tonks' smile was still a mile wide. "That's all right, Teddy."

"I was Quidditch captain and a prefect, but McGonagall said I was too clumsy to be Head Boy. My godfather taught me how to fly and I make a decent seeker."

"I named Harry, right?" asked Remus. So he had survived after all and possibly defeated Voldemort.

"Yes, you did," responded Teddy. Now he could explain why Harry featured so prominently in many memories. "He… er… took me under his wing, you could say. He gave me my promotion as an Auror."

"So You-Know-Who is gone, then?" Tonks was careful not to say _Voldemort_.

This was bad. This was bad, bad, bad. If Teddy revealed too much, who knows what could happen to the future. Thank Merlin he had already been conceived, or just hugging his mum could have caused him to vanish. But then again, he could always obliviate Remus and Tonks before he and Louis went back. But some irrational part of him wanted to spill every detail of the Battle of Hogwarts to his parents, how they should stay out of it this time and not get murdered by Dolohov and Bellatrix. Hell, while he was at it he could save Fred Weasley, too. _But then what would happen_, he thought. His adopted family, Vic, James, Al, and Lily, would vanish, and he didn't know what he would do without them. _No_, he thought. _We will find a way out of this and I will wipe them and that's it_. "Yes," he put simply. "Harry defeated You-Know-Who."

He could sense his parents' desire to press for details, to know everything, but they abstained. Remus asked a hesitant question, though. "This mission he's on, for Dumbledore, is that how he wins?"

"Yes, Dumbledore was right all along."

"Well then," said Tonks brightly, "let's have some tea. Mum's taking a nap upstairs, put _Silencio_ and other charms on the door, but she'll be down soon enough. There's tarts and sandwiches in the kitchen, too, and time travel can't be easy. You want something, too?"

Louis was grateful that someone had acknowledged his presence, but he had been especially quiet for a reason. This wasn't his family, wasn't his reunion. "Yes, I'll have something to eat too, Mrs. Lupin."

"Call me Tonks," she said, though she smiled at the name _Mrs. Lupin_. She turned to Remus. "I'm not carrying all those dishes myself. And you two can get your wands now, you know. Just don't place them in your back pockets." Remus took his hand off Teddy's shoulder and followed her until they disappeared behind a doorway.

Teddy and Louis both picked their wands off the floor. "I need to sit down," said Louis, who hadn't realized how long he had been standing as he felt a dull ache in his feet and chest. He had just stood there, watching the scene.

"Me too," said Teddy as they made their way over to a green and blue striped sofa in the corner of the room nearest the doorway Tonks and Remus had vanished behind. Teddy plopped himself next to Louis. "M-mum's right." He stumbled once more over words that were foreign to his tongue. "Time travel takes a lot out of you."

"What should we tell them?" Louis asked Teddy. He had been thinking about this too, how he could vanish any moment if he squished a bug. A muggleborn in his year had told him a similar story. "Teddy?"

"We'll have to obliviate them, that's for sure."

Teddy's voice had an edge of darkness to it, but it also had an edge of hopefulness. Of longing. As Louis tried to recall his limited knowledge of the subject of time travel, he whispered, "I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, Teddy." The two sat in silence then, as Louis' fingers fumbled with his mirror and Teddy sat stoic with both hands in his lap, waiting for his parents to return with tea and snacks.

* * *

_ "When are you two from?" demanded Kingsley, and this time he put more force into his voice._

_ "March 28, 2022," responded Freddie. "And, for the record, I am completely screwed." __Aren't we all? __thought Molly._

"2022?" echoed Mrs. Weasley. She took a closer look at the duo, the woman with the flaming curls held back behind her ears with a large purple bow, slanted eyes with a color that mimicked hers, a partially flattened nose, and angular features that reminded her distantly of Arthur and (was it possible? Could it be?) her third eldest son and the man whose skin tone and small afro looked like no Weasley she'd ever seen, but apparently shared the name and a few other features of her fourth eldest son.

Molly acknowledged her mistake and silently chided herself on her stupidity. She had revealed important dates and information which possibly (there was a small chance, she had theories) could unravel the very fabric of time or at least obliterate some people from existence. She just hoped that, though people heard her, they would not ask any follow-up questions or make any exclamations. She, of course, knew this was a foolish thing to hope.

"We win! That's great! How'd that happen?! Did Harry face down old Moldyshorts?" For this, Fred received sad and dark looks from Freddie and Molly. George, Mrs. Weasley, Lee, and Kingsley couldn't help but notice their expressions, but Kingsley spoke before the two time travelers could be questioned by George, who had opened his mouth to speak.

"Legimens," he said, pointing his wand at Molly, who seemed to be more knowledgeable than her cousin. He only saw a few memories, _Molly at the memorial for the dead. Molly laughing with Dominique. Little Molly reading three-year-old Lucy a bedtime story. Molly at a family reunion, watching her cousins soar above her on broomsticks. Molly in the attic with all the others and the time turner falling to the ground._ "From what I can see, they are truthful. However, there is the matter of where their other relatives ended up and how they are to get home." Perhaps it was the fact that the duo's wands were lying on the ground, or it could have been solely Kingsley's voice, but his companions relaxed slightly.

Freddie and Molly, on the other hand, were nervous. How were they going to get home? Would one of their parents just magically appear out of nowhere with a shiny new time-travelling mechanism?

They did not know if they should reply to Fred's question. Freddie began to speak but was stopped by Molly placing a hand on his arm. She thought about it for a moment, how she had practically given the answer away anyways. "Yes. Harry Potter defeats You-Know-Who." She could tell that all of them had questions and to be honest, she wasn't sure if she knew the full story herself. "I apologize, but I don't know if I can say anything else." Everyone's faces fell.

"Can you all leave the room for a moment while me and Molly here have a little chat?"

No one looked like they wanted to go, but Mrs. Weasley said, "I don't think it would do any harm to leave them alone for a moment. Kingsley, what do you think?"

"Yeah, you said they were trustworthy," added George.

"I never said that, only that they were truthful. Trustworthy is a different matter entirely." He thought for a moment, remembering Molly's memories. Neither she nor Freddie seemed particularly harmful except for the fact that Freddie seemed like the Weasley twins. "Fine. We'll go back into the kitchen while you two sort things out." He walked out of the room and gestured for Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, and Lee to follow. Fred, George, and Lee took one last look at the time travelers before hurrying along in Mrs. Weasley's wake.

"Muffalio." Freddie pointed his wand at the doorway. Molly sat back down on the armchair where she had landed and Freddie plopped down on the sofa. Freddie was the first to speak. "So, time travel, eh? It's like living inside a history book." He tried to make Molly smile, but his efforts were in vain.

_I like history books, but I'd never like to live inside one. Too much blood_, she thought. "I don't know what we should tell them," she said finally.

"Why not tell them the truth? Uncle Harry returned to Hogwarts for a battle, died, came back to life, and killed Vol-" Molly jumped to cover Freddie's mouth with her hand.

"1998, remember?" She went back to her armchair.

"Right, we tell them he killed You-Know-Who, got married, and had kids. We don't need to mention other things." She understood what those other things were. "And before we go back, we obliviate them. I'm pretty sure I could do the spell."

"But how will we get back?"

"Well, fourteen people can't go missing without someone noticing."

"That's not what I meant. They'll notice, all right, but how will they find us? What other time turners like that are there?" While it was true that Molly worked in the time research division, trying to recreate time turners, she had never seen one like that before. "According to my studies, time turners were never that large and when they broke, nothing too drastic happened."

"Well, maybe the Ministry needs new studies, then. Needs to update its resources, because we are definitely in 1998. My imagination doesn't run that wild. If I was dreaming to go back to 1998, I would've at least dreamed myself into a more interesting place."

Was that where Lucy and Dominique and the rest were, then? Molly wondered. A more interesting place such as Hogwarts or in the grip of a Snatcher?

"So what happens, then, whenever someone messes with time?" asked Freddie, who was actually curious. "Shouldn't us interacting with Minister Shacklebolt and Grandmum and Dad and Uncle Fred cause time and space to collapse or something?"

Molly loved to share her knowledge. Facts calmed her somewhat. "Well you see, whenever someone goes back in time and interacts with the people there, they create an alternate universe."

"So the future is unaffected?"

"The one which we come from, yes. But this one is still changing."

"So if- when we go back, we'll go back to the same place we left."

"That's the theory, yes." It was what Molly had written an entire essay and conducted an entire study on, one of the biggest revelations of time travel. Time turners shouldn't be possible, which was why they were proving near impossible to recreate. If so many people had traveled back to the past, time would be seriously messed up. The alternate universe theory made time travel plausible again, made it so time balanced itself out. "But then again, the Ministry needs some new studies, doesn't it?" She didn't know why she was being so scathing. True, she did her best to avoid her cousin Freddie (and James, too) when she could. It wasn't even that difficult, usually. They got under her skin like no one else, not even Thomas Whittler.

"A theory." Freddie's face fell, then was replaced with a mischievous expression. "Well, if it's only a theory."

"What are you thinking, Freddie?" She didn't like the look on her cousin's face, one that meant trouble.

"Nothing, nothing."

"We shouldn't say more than necessary."

"I wasn't planning on it, Molly."

Molly gave him a suspicious look before saying, "Maybe we should let them all back in."

Freddie undid the Muffalio spell. "C'mon back in," he hollered.

"Finished your little chat, then?" asked Lee.

"Yes, we finished talking and well, we've decided what we should say," said Molly, who vowed to keep a close watch on Freddie. After all, the alternate universe theory was just a theory and maybe she and Freddie should talk more privately before saying anything drastic.

"While we're here, we should introduce ourselves," said Freddie. "We know all of you, of course, but you have no idea who we are yet. I am the devilishly handsome Freddie Weasley the second and this is my more homely but still lovely cousin, Molly."

"Freddie? Are you mine or George's?"

"George and Angelina Weasley's son, of course. You-"

"Decided to be… um... in your words, an eternal bachelor," Molly cut in. There were politer ways of informing people of their deaths.

"Oi!" Fred turned to his twin. "You married _my_ girlfriend?! Aren't there laws against this?"

"_You_ were the one who broke up with _her_ six months ago. 'Course, she probably married me because she realized how much better looking I was than you."

"Probably not – you've still got a son named after me, right? Could've been a sign of her remembering what she was missing…"

George let out a short burst of laughter. "Yeah, right."

Kingsley noted that Molly and Freddie looked extremely uncomfortable. "My name's Fred – well, I _always_ go by Freddie – because you lost a bet, Da- um… George," added Freddie, whose gaze was constantly shifting between his father and his namesake. "Something about a firewhiskey drinking contest." Fred and George nodded, though George felt that something was off.

"I always knew I could drink more than you," said Fred, smiling.

Lee snorted. "I've seen the both of you drink – that's not really quite a feat, Fred."

"And who would name you after me?" asked Mrs. Weasley to Molly.

Molly thought for a moment about the best way to phrase her next sentence. "I am the eldest daughter of Audrey Knowles-Weasley and Percy Weasley," she put simply, directing her full gaze to Mrs. Weasley, whose eyes began to fill with tears at the mention of her estranged son.

"Percy stops being a prat?" asked Fred.

"It depends on your definition of 'prat,'" began Freddie, and he began to laugh, along with Fred, George, and Lee.

"My father returns to the family, if that's what you mean. I am named Molly as an apology for all the pain he caused the family during the war. My father has paid enough for his decision, and he had his own reasons, and I would prefer if no one spoke ill of him," said Molly coolly. Mrs. Weasley looked overjoyed with the news.

After this, there was a moment of awkward silence. Molly was back to wondering how she was going to get back and find the rest of the family. What if they hadn't all gone back to the same time? The grin was wiped off Freddie's face as he began to wonder the same thing. James would have probably said a joke right now, joining in with his laughter. Roxie might have joined in with a comment, followed by one from Louis.

Freddie had an unprecedented moment of insight. The people around him were those who had been on Potterwatch. If his family was listening… "I have an idea…" he began. Molly looked skeptical. "Molly, trust me this time, it is a good idea." He turned to Kingsley, Fred, George, and Lee. "I need you to do us a favor…"

Molly caught on to Freddie's train of thought, wondering why she hadn't come up with the idea first. She only hoped her cousins would be listening.

* * *

**AN: End of the chapter! I told you it'd be shorter. Please review and favorite, maybe?! I put Teddy/Louis and Freddie/Molly into one chapter because alone they wouldn't be long enough. Until they interlope with the over-arching storyline, theirs won't be very action-packed, not like Albus/Scorpius/Hugo or James/Rose/Roxanne will be. **


	5. Welcome to Dumbledore's Army

**Chapter 5: Welcome to Dumbledore's Army**

**AN: Thanks to those who reviewed and favorited!**

**Chapter Summary: James, Roxie, and Rose have just confused the hell out of Neville and Ginny. Will their story be believed?**

* * *

_James felt as if it was his turn to speak. "Now, I know this might sound a little weird to you, but I'm your son from 2022, and these are my cousins, Roxie and Rose."_

"James!" Roxanne said through gritted teeth.

Rose felt like slapping her cousin upside the head for his breech in intelligence. Perhaps she should have spoken up before him before he made a comment that completely revealed who they were. There were other answers James could and should have given. They could have pretended to be from different years and houses (though she doubted James could have passed for any younger than a seventh year).

There was hope yet, though, provided they could pass off James' statement as a joke. Given the looks on Ginny and Neville's faces, it wouldn't even been that hard. If she was to believe that they were stuck in 1998 (and there was a bloody good chance they were, about 95%, Rose estimated), then she might just be witnessing the first time the pair had smiled in a while. They were giving Rose, James, and Roxanne odd looks torn between amusement and incredulity.

"Are – are – you off your rocker? That's impossible. Why, it's only 1998!" said Ginny between bouts of laughter.

"I've never read as many books as Hermione has, but even I know that's impossible. We broke all the time turners two years ago," added Neville. The two laughed for about a moment before ceasing and examining the others' faces.

The boy, or man, Ginny could not deny, looked like hers and Harry's illegitimate love child. His hair was darker than hers, but still red, and his face was smattered with freckles. His eyes were the same as hers and hidden behind frameless glasses. There was something in the curve of his lip and the shape of his nose and face that reminded her of Harry.

The dark-skinned girl/woman looked slightly familiar, but Neville couldn't place a name to the face. She styled her hair in dreadlocks and her features mostly reminded him of the negro looks of Angelina Johnson, but there was a certain determination and mischief in her eyes that was so innately _Weasley_ that is was difficult to overlook.

The other girl was a redhead, and the word _Weasley_ came to the minds of Ginny and Neville almost instantly, but the girl had and intelligent and confidant air about her that reminded the two of Hermione Granger. Her eyes were blue (like Ron's, Ginny noticed), she was rather tall, and her face was smattered in freckles, but her hair was bushy and much of her features were predominately Granger. Still, could these three really be from the future?

Rose sighed inwardly and Ginny and Neville ogled them; Roxanne stood still, examining the expressions on their faces. In a few moments the two would see the truth; at least Rose thought they would. James looked too much like Harry and Ginny and she looked too much like her own parents. At least Roxanne's looks didn't immediately scream _Weasley_.

Perhaps telling the truth could be beneficial in some way. Neville and Ginny could help her and her cousins hide. She cleared her throat and Neville and Ginny seemed a bit embarrassed for staring so long. "True, all of the time-turners in the Department of Ministries were destroyed, but my idiot of a cousin and my other idiot of a cousin found this one in our Gran's attic. Which, by the way, they were not allowed to go into."

"Your Gran's attic?" asked Ginny, who had a suspicion of who this girl's parents were, if she and her companions were to be believed.

"I am not an idiot!" argued James. "And I'm 18, for Merlin's sake! I shouldn't need permission to go into the attic."

"Going into the attic wasn't the problem; throwing that bloody time-turner was! If you hadn't thrown it, we wouldn't be in this situation to start with. What made you think that throwing it was a good idea? That's your problem – _you never think_."

"I did think, Roxie. I _thought _that Freddie would be able to catch the time-turner. I _thought_ that time-turners couldn't send you back this far. I _thought _that I had made a good throw!" Neville and Ginny exchanged a glance. _Freddie?_

"Oh please, James, that was the most pitiful throw I've ever seen in my life. You give chasers everywhere a bad name!" Roxanne started to raise her voice.

James' face reddened and he looked at Roxanne like that was the gravest insult he had ever recieved. He was about to respond before he was interrupted by Rose. "Enough! James, it was your fault and that was a sorry throw. Don't deny it." He was about to interrupt, but the look on her face resembled her mother's when she was angered, so he decided not to. "But there will be plenty of time to shout at you later; this is not over." Roxanne nodded. "But we have to decide how to get home."

"Umm, James, Roxie, Rose?" asked Neville, remembering the female red-head's name. "But when all the time-turners in the Ministry shattered, nothing happened. How can you break a time-turner and end up years in the past?" Ginny had been wondering the same thing.

"I don't really know," said Roxanne, whose temper had cooled somewhat, though she still glared daggers at James. "But it didn't look like the ones I saw in my History of Magic books, did it, Rose?" She looked expectantly at the Ravenclaw.

"No, this one was much bigger. I certainly couldn't have fit it 'round my neck. It was about the size of a quaffle, but it wasn't really one." She glared at James, who gave a small grin in response.

"It had these funny markings on it, too," added James. He had been the only one to actually touch the intact time-turner. The markings on it looked like symbols or a different language entirely.

"You say you found it in your Gran's attic?" said Ginny. After all, this man did say he was her son.

"The Burrow, yeah. Not much up there unless you like spiders. Or invisible boxes." Rose flinched slightly at the mention of spiders.

"Invisible boxes?" asked Neville.

"So, you really are my son?" asked Ginny at the same time.

James answered Neville's question first, if only to infuriate his mother and cousins, who knew Ginny's question was more important. "Yeah, the whole attic looked bare. It wasn't until Dominique, one of my other cousins – I have quite a lot, you see – bumped into something that we knew anything was there."

"So are you my son or not?" Ginny was becoming impatient.

"Weren't you listening? I already said I was. And those are my cousins, Roxie and Rose Weasley." James held his arms up and gestured toward himself in a dramatic fashion. "I am James Sirius Potter, first born (and favorite) son of Harry and Ginny Potter, former captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, prankster extraordinaire, ladies' man -"

"They get the point, James!" shouted Rose.

"Harry survives, then?" asked Neville, wanting to believe that more than anything. The news had certainly brightened his day. Ginny brightened too, even if some part of her buried deep inside still held some doubts. The man she loved would survive and she would get to marry him, and they would… She stopped herself right there. She had moved past the "and they would live happily ever after" stage of her life. But, nevertheless, Harry would survive. And she would, too. So would Ron and Hermione, by the looks of it.

Before James could give away too much information, Rose spoke. "Yes, he does."

"And You-Know-Who is defeated? Dumbledore's Army – Harry – wins?"

At the sound of the hopefulness in Neville's voice, Roxanne answered. Besides, they had practically told them the answer anyways. "Yes, where we come from, Vol-" Everybody looked frightened and she was silenced for a moment by fierce looks from Neville and Ginny. "You-Know-Who doesn't exist anymore."

Neville and Ginny's spirits rose, Neville's slightly more. If You-Know-Who was gone, then that would mean the Carrows were, too. He had accomplished his mission for the year, in the future, at least. But one person remained uncounted for, and he didn't mean himself. "Luna?" Ginny bristled at the name. "Is she all right?" The two friends looked at the time travelers expectantly, filled with hope and fear.

Roxanne wanted to answer again, as she understood protectiveness over close friends. But would answering put them at a disadvantage? Didn't they say changing the past too much could cause the universe to explode or her to disappear or something? She half-opened her mouth before Rose gestured for her two cousins to huddle.

"Sorry, but we need to talk before telling you more," Rose said, shooting a guilty look at Neville and Ginny, whose faces fell.

Neville placed a gentle hand on Rose's shoulder. "Please. We just want to know if she's safe." Rose shook herself from Neville's grip and grabbed the wrists of her cousins, pulling them toward a corner of the room.

Roxanne jerked away from Rose's grip. "She's right. We've got to at least talk to each other – and then we'll tell you what we can." She walked toward her cousins. "So, you reckon we shouldn't tell 'em anything?" asked Roxanne in a whisper. "I mean, they already know about Uncle Harry and Vol- You-Know Who. Telling them about Luna doesn't really hurt the situation that much."

"Muffalio," whispered James as he pointed his wand in the direction of Neville and Ginny. "Don't feel myself evaporating into nothingness yet." He held up an arm to prove it was still there.

"Neither do I, but we should exercise caution. I mean, we don't want to change the past too much."

"Or do we?" countered Roxanne, thinking of her own father. "James isn't evaporating, and all my body parts are accounted for."

"So, no bringing up the S-N-A-P-E or the H-O-R-C-R-U-X things, then?" asked James. I mean, they probably don't know what the H-O-R-C-R-U-X-E-S are, anyways.

"I think we can spell, James." Roxanne rolled her eyes. "They can't hear us now, anyways."

"We can't mess with time for our own benefit!" hissed Rose, whose eyes softened when she looked at Roxanne. "No matter how much we want to, we don't know what the consequences would be. Remember that story, about Mum and the time-turner? She said she couldn't mess with the past too much."

"Yeah, but Dad interfered, and it turned out alright, didn't it?"

"Yes, but… fine. I think we can tell them a bit."

"I'd be willing to obliviate," offered Roxanne helpfully. "Mum showed me the spell. If we say too much, we can always erase their memories. We have to tell them a bit about Luna, at any rate." Roxanne had not seen 'Auntie Luna' as much as the other two, but the peculiar woman stopped by the Burrow on occasion. She and Roxanne had even exchanged words once in a while and although Luna informed Roxanne that her dreadlocks looked like some unpronounceable creature she had seen on her travels, the older woman was still quite friendly.

"Excellent! No harm done, then. But what d' you two reckon about the others?" James changed the subject, his thoughts shifting to Lily, Al, Freddie, and the others. "I mean, they were there when Freddie didn't catch the time-turner and it dropped. They had to have gone somewhere."

Roxanne didn't bother to berate James for saying 'when Freddie didn't catch the time turner' instead of 'when Freddie didn't catch the time turner when I threw it so pathetically it would have made Oliver Wood cry' (she and Wood were very close and despite playing for his rival House team, he still had given her some pointers). "I remember the flash of light and someone screaming (maybe it was me). And then colors flew by and the next thing I know, I'm here. It felt like apparition." She said this last bit to Rose, who had never apparated before in her life.

"They might not even be in this year, or even this decade," said Rose.

Roxanne spoke of the fear that hung over them like a curtain. "Our parents may not be able to find us. We might have to figure out our own way to get home."

"Dad'll get us. Mum probably would rip through the fabric of time to kill me." He was a bit nervous; knowing that his mother's wrath would be greater than it ever was and the majority of it would be focused on him.

Roxanne laughed nervously and even Rose's lip curled a bit upwards at the truth of this statement. "So we just hide here in the Room of Requirement?" asked Roxanne.

"Why not? It's what Neville did, and it worked pretty well for him." James shrugged.

"You two are right, I suppose; but we need to talk to Aunt Ginny and Neville first. As much as I'd love to search for them-" she clenched her fists thinking of her cousins, best friend, and little brother (who she vowed to herself to always take care of) "-we can't. It would be far too risky-"

"-And we don't even know where to begin." Roxanne finished Rose's sentence. "But there must be some way we can get information."

"I suppose we should talk to them now, then," said James, pointing to where Neville and Ginny stood. They had long since stopped wondering where that 'buzzing' sound had come from. James flashed a smile at his cousins, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"We'll do the talking, James," said Rose with a disapproving look on her face.

"What's wrong, Rosie?" he asked, still grinning.

"That look on your face, James. You're going to tell them more than they need to know. Messing with time is not a game."

"And we already haven't messed it up already with us Just being here? Besides, I don't intend to tell them more than they need to know. I might give them a bit of advice, though."

Roxanne caught on to James' train of thought – and she couldn't help it. The corners of her mouth tilted upward. "You mean pranking the Carrows?" James nodded. "Hmm… maybe we could think of something."

Rose couldn't find much wrong with that, in theory. After all, her Aunt and Neville had told her that some of the things they had done had been pranking, to relieve some tension. And they hadn't started disappearing from existence just yet. _Are you mad?_ she thought, berating herself. _We can't just mess with time and have everything be fine. We should be cautious. _

At times, Rose was a cautious person, but she did not believe in exercising it as much as one would believe. But theirs was a delicate situation, and she could not get her mother's words out of her head, telling her that time was confusing (it wasn't often when her mother found something confusing) and wasn't something to be trifled with. But she also knew that if James didn't annoy or prank someone, he would become irritable and antsy. Especially now that he knew of the location of only two of his cousins. "Fine," she said simply. "Let's go talk to Au- Ginny and Neville. But if you say anything too revealing James, you will regret it."

He didn't doubt his cousin's statement, but he ignored it and removed the 'Muffalio' charm.

Ginny and Neville were relieved that the buzzing and ringing in their ears had ceased. "We had to talk some things over," said Roxanne.

"Like what?" asked Neville.

"We can't say too much," explained Rose. "We don't want to change the future." That was partially a lie, and all three time-travelers knew it. Rose followed her statement with a pointed look at her cousins.

"Haven't you already changed it by being here? I mean, right now something could have been happening that was important to the future." There was a hint of doubt in Neville's voice, however. After all, the members of Dumbledore's Army were in their dorms and all he and Ginny were planning to do was patrol the hallways and go back to their respective dormitories.

"Rose means that we don't want to change it _much_. Certain events…. need to happen," said Roxanne.

"Like I was saying, we haven't disappeared yet. And what bad things could really happen if Teddy's-"

He was cut off by Roxanne. "I thought we were done discussing this, James?" she hissed. She was partially hysterical though, and partially inclined to agree with his idea. If Teddy's parents could live, why not her deceased uncle? After all, he would be here somewhere. _It wouldn't be so bad. Dad would smile more and Freddie's real name wouldn't cause Grandmum so much pain to say_, she thought. She knew the idea was ludicrous, though. But if there was a way she could make her father's situation better in the future without harming her own, she would not hesitate to make that possibility a reality.

Rose noticed the expression on Roxanne's face. "No, Roxanne, we don't." And she turned to Neville and Ginny.

"Who's Teddy?" asked Ginny. "Another one of my sons?"

James snorted. "I wish. You're talking about Al, my younger brother. "

"Just how many kids do Harry and I have?" That question felt strange to her. Kids? She was only sixteen.

"Just me, Al, also known as Albus, Mummy's Little Boy, The-Boy-Who-Did-Not-Know-How-To-Play-Quidditch, and sometimes Mr. Princess…"

"Enough, James! And _one_ daughter, Lily," finished Rose. She knew that James' nicknames were typically mere brotherly teasing, but she didn't want Ginny to be confused about the gender of her own son.

"Do I get to name any of my kids?"

"You actually named me," said James. "And you gave Lily her middle name after begging Dad to have one kid not named completely after dead people. You also named Albus, but then Dad changed it. But it's okay, because now he gets to share in the dead person motif."

Ginny nodded, wondering what Al's middle name was (who would die?). She had a better idea what Lily's middle name would be. No one ever approved of her naming choices, as evidenced by the apparent fact that Harry had to change her son's name (she first thought of the names Ermintrude and Retizabaya for girls), so she would probably name her child after one of her friends, such as Luna.

Neville was becoming annoyed that the three time-travelers still had not answered his question. They could talk about possible children later; but he was getting anxious (was there a reason they avoided talking about Luna?) "So, where's Luna?" he asked.

James, Rose, and Roxanne exchanged glances. "We can't tell you," said Roxanne. It would only make them worry when Luna would be safe soon, after all.

Ginny interrupted. "We won't say anything." Neville nodded. "Just tell us where she is."

"If we do tell you," asked Roxanne, "you have to promise to help us."

"We're not time travel experts," said Ginny.

"You don't have to be," insisted Roxanne. "Just…. if we need any help, or information of a sort."

"We'll do what we can," Ginny said. "Now are you three going to tell us where Luna is, or are we going to go in circles all night?"

"She's okay. She'll be okay," said James.

"She's okay where?" insisted Neville. "Okay at her house, or okay in the wilderness?" Luna was strong though. Stronger than most people thought. Roxanne said she was okay, but he still wanted specifics.

The worry on Neville and Ginny's faces softened Rose a bit, so she let something slip. It would be harmless, really and would still be the truth. "She will be at Shell Cottage soon enough."

This comment relieved Ginny. "That's where Bill lives, remember? It's well-protected." Neville's spirits rose.

They all stood in silence rather awkwardly after that for a few moments. Ginny and Neville did not know what they were allowed to ask, while those from the future were unsure of what they were allowed to tell. Finally, Neville decided to speak up. "So, you two." He spoke to Rose and Roxanne. "Who are your parents? Do I have any kids?"

Rose could sense the extended question. Neville was wondering whether or not he survived the war, now that he knew Ginny and (likely) Luna would. It was James that answered Neville's second question, a far-off look in his eye. "Yeah, you have one daughter called Judith. Oh, and a son, Frank." He seemed to snap himself back into reality when he mentioned Frank.

"Best Herbology teacher Hogwarts ever had," said Roxanne with a smile.

"See? I told you you'd make a great Herbology teacher, Neville." Ginny reached up to pat his shoulder, noting for a moment how different it was from third year, when he'd had to reach up to her.

"It's what I wanted to do. When this whole thing was done with, I mean. I sort of wanted to be an Auror too, for a little while." He had confided this much to Ginny on the rare nights they had snuck up to the Astronomy tower and talked while looking out at the night sky.

"You're an Auror too," said James. "I mean, you were for a little while. Al once said that he wanted to be like you when he grew up, and even ran around with a little toy sword shouting 'Die N-" (actually it was he who had done that, but he wasn't about to admit it to Neville's face)

He was cut off by Rose, who had decided his almost slip-up was the perfect time to reveal her parentage. "You've probably already guessed who my parents are." She pulled on a strand of bushy red hair.

"You look a bit like Hermione," said Neville, noting her face shape and bushy hair.

"And a bit like Ron," added Ginny, noting the girl's longish nose, height, red hair, and freckles.

"Of course, who else would Hermione marry?" asked Neville. "Harry?"

Ginny chuckled at the thought, all the while marveling how tonight she had smiled more than she had in a long time. There were, of course, the moments with Neville and Luna, but the time-travelers' appearance gave her a sense of escapism she relished.

"I'm 15, the oldest child. My brother, Hugo, is 13." She paused for a moment, remembering her brother. "Anyways, I'm in Ravenclaw-"

Ginny snorted. "Bet Ron loved that."

"He said 'Rosie, I've never been prouder of you," said Rose, who actually did use her father's exact words.

"Of course, he wouldn't say anything mean to _her_. Daddy's little girl, even at 15."

Rose glared at him. "Yes, as I was saying, I'm in Ravenclaw –"

"-With Al and Scorpius," muttered James.

"-and Professor Slughorn said I'm just as good as my mother."

"But still not good enough."

"There's always room for improvement James. And will you stop interrupting!" What he said was true, though. She would never be good enough until she outshined them all.

"Rose likes competition," Roxanne explained. "Or better yet, she likes to win."

Winning was nice, Rose had to admit. "Winning is just a consolation. There is nothing wrong with a little challenge and competition once in a while. I've never seen you have any problem with winning, Roxanne."

Roxanne nodded. "True, winning does have a certain joy about it."

"Do you play Quidditch?" asked Ginny.

"Sometimes. I don't really see much of a use for it though. To play, I mean. It's rather violent, isn't it?"

"The risk is part of the fun, though," said Ginny.

"You don't like it just because you can't win," said James.

"That is not true!"

"Yes it is, dear cousin. Anyways, I play Chaser and Lily likes to play Seeker sometimes."

"Yes, and I'm a Keeper, but I like to chase sometimes, too. Way better than this tosser," teased Roxanne. James opened his mouth to object, but she ignored him and continued. She would never get a word in with Rose and James bantering. "Anyways, I'm 17 and my parents are George and Angelina Weasley. I have an older brother named Freddie. He's 18, and so is James."

"Angelina? As in Johnson? I thought Fred was still dating her."

"No, they broke it off about a year ago," Ginny explained to Neville, though she still didn't know the circumstances surrounding the breakup. "Fred II is your brother? What kind of bet did George lose to name his kid after Fred?"

Roxanne, James, and Rose became uncomfortable for a moment before Roxanne answered Ginny. "It was… um… a drinking bet. I don't know the specifics. Anyways, his name is Freddie, not Fred." She had long since learned not to use the "F" word.

"It's what he likes to be called," added James. Freddie hated living in the shadow of his deceased uncle. "He was in Gryffindor too, like me. Not like these two Weasley family traitors."

"Your dad always says that it's talk like this that fueled the war in the first place," said Rose.

"He's just joking," Roxanne promised Neville and Ginny. "He hasn't seriously called me a 'traitor' since my first few months of Hogwarts."

"What house were you sorted into, then?" asked Ginny. Roxanne didn't act much like a Ravenclaw and from what she had seen so far, she didn't seem exactly like a Hufflepuff.

"Oh, you two will just love this, especially now." James smiled.

"Let me tell them," insisted Roxanne.

"What, we shouldn't give them enough time to run from your Dark Magic?"

"No one can hide from my Dark Magic," said Roxanne. "James is just exaggerating. He's just been given a chance to use all of his 'evil Slytherin' jokes."

"Slytherin?" asked Neville. "So that's what House you're in?"  
"Don't be ridiculous, Neville. No Weasley has ever been in Slytherin. Right?" Ginny looked between the three time travelers, especially at Roxanne.

"I'm not the first. Dominique – Bill's and Fleur's daughter – is older than me, and she's a Slytherin as well. I haven't come back to join the Dark Lord or anything. Slytherin isn't all evil, especially now – well, the time period we come from."

"Roxanne's right. Ambition and cunning are not necessarily evil traits. We know the feelings that exist about Slytherin now, but Au- Ginny? Neville? Can we stay here until we figure something out?" There was an urgent and slightly pleading tone to Rose's voice.

Ginny was taken aback by Rose's and Roxanne's words. She had always been taught that Slytherin was evil – hell, it's heir had possessed her when she was a mere first year – and most Slytherins she had seen did nothing to disprove her opinion. Still, George could never have raised an evil child, and Roxanne seemed nice. "We could make it work." She turned toward Neville.

Neville scratched the back of his neck. "I dunno. The DA usually meets here early, before breakfast, but we could change the meeting to tomorrow night. You know what the DA is?"

"Of course," said Roxanne. "Dumbledore's Army."

"Founded by Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, Dumbledore's Army was a group that worked to better their magic and When You-Know-Who took over-"

James cut her off. "Leave it to Rosie to have a textbook definition for everything. You are an undercover group that works to take down Snape and You-Know-Who. I think I may have some ideas for you."

"We'd love to hear them," said Ginny. She, who had lived with Fred and George, wondered if her future son had any different methods.

"Some people will notice you don't go to Hogwarts though," said Neville.

"We'll pretend not to be from Hogwarts, then. We know enough to be believable," said James.

"Maybe it's best if we don't draw attention to ourselves," said Rose. "It's not a good option right now."

"You could give us some advice, though," said Neville. "In the annoying the Carrows department, I mean. We've used up loads of pranking supplies, but we're still writing on the walls." A shiver went down Ginny's back at that statement. "We shouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves, though. Especially with you three."

"No, we shouldn't," agreed Rose.

"We'll stay here, then. Pranking ideas tomorrow, I'm tired," said Roxanne. James and Rose nodded, also feeling fatigued.

"You think she's gone?" Neville asked Ginny.

"She might still be looking. We're going to have to be sneaky. Can't miss roll call, you know." Every morning, all the students were counted to make sure none escaped or was hiding. The punishment for not showing up was severe.

Ginny and Neville walked to the door. "We have to go now," yawned Ginny, and she and Neville left, leaving the three cousins by themselves.

I wish there was something to sleep on," grumbled James, who knew that three beds would appear. Sure enough, three cots appeared: one colored red and goldenrod, on in silver and green, and a third in blue and bronze.

"Of course!" exclaimed Rose. "The Room of Requirement. Well, I want no Carrow or any You-Know-Who supporters to enter."

The three of them walked over to their own cots.

"James?" Rose asked in a small voice, the whisper carrying.

"Yes, Rose?"

"You are _so_ going to pay for this."

"Maybe we can stuff your corpse and hang it in Dad's shop," suggested Roxanne.

"At least I would remain this devilishly handsome forever."

"You wish," said both girls, and sleep overtook them all.

* * *

**AN: I apologize for any horrible characterizations I did of Neville and/or Ginny. If anyone feels OOC, please tell me. Please review!**


	6. Escape from Malfoy Manor

**Chapter 6: Escape from Malfoy Manor**

**AN: Thanks to those who reviewed and favorited! Please review! I just realized a mistake I made after I wrote this chapter. Dean and Griphook apparently were captured with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but it made little impact on me when I read that part.**

**Chapter Summary: Victoire and Lily did not end up in the most ideal of locations. Now, they have to figure out a way to escape from Malfoy Manor.**

* * *

_ "Hide!" hissed Dean, and Victoire and Lily scrambled to a corner out of view of the doorway. Victoire and Lily held their breaths, Victoire clutching the younger girl to her chest, as Narcissa Malfoy slowly opened the door to her own basement._

Victoire could feel Lily shaking and she herself began to shiver. Lily looked up at her and she put a finger to her lips, though Lily already knew to be quiet. They held their breaths as long as they could before needing oxygen again.

The door opened as slow as a snail, as if Narcissa wanted those who were hiding to stay in torment. When there was enough light to see, Dean made a small gesture that Luna, Ollivander, and Griphook understood to mean 'quiet.'

None of them had any intention of ratting the time travelers out, anyways. Ollivander and Griphook wanted a way out and Luna was curious about these mysterious strangers and the time from whence they came.

Eventually, Narcissa entered the cellar, whose occupants remained immobile. Narcissa's face betrayed no emotion, though she couldn't exactly look her captors in the eye as she placed a bowl of something grey in front of them. "This will be all you get for today, so you better eat it."

"Excuse me, but what exactly is it? It looks to be oatmeal of some kind," Luna said. "It looks a bit odd to be oatmeal."

Narcissa looked at Luna and pursed her lips. "I believe that is what it is. I have more pressing matters to attend to than the quality of the food." She walked out of the cellar and shut the door, leaving the basement on total darkness once more.

Everybody was completely silence for a couple minutes with the exception of Luna, who started to hum quietly to herself. Victoire and Lily were still in the corner and Lily had her eyes shut. It was a miracle that the woman didn't check in the corner.

When all was quiet and she was certain that Mrs. Malfoy would not be returning, Victoire whispered "lumos" and the room was lit once more. This did not make to grey substance (apparently oatmeal) look any more appealing.

"Will she be back?" asked Lily.

"No. Usually one of them feeds us once a day. Except for when we are… uh… interrogated," explained Ollivander, who flinched at the memories of the times when he was interrogated.

"Want some?" asked Dean, offering his bowl in Victoire's and Lily's direction. "The food is bad usually, but I think I just lost my appetite looking at this."

"No thank you," said Victoire. Even if she did have an appetite, she probably would have lost it.

"Good thing we ate before we got here," Lily whispered to Victoire.

"It's not that bad, just a bit bland." Luna had taken a bite.

"I'm eating mine," said Griphook. "And by the way, could you undo these chains? They're making me a bit itchy." There was a rope tied around Griphook's ankle.

"Let me see that." Victoire burnt a hole through the rope. Griphook did not thank her, but resumed eating.

Dean had an idea. "You know, since you have a wand, could you get us out of here? Please?"

"Oh, yes. Good idea, Dean. You can take us by side-along apparition." Luna looked expectantly at Victoire.

"Well, I…" Her primary goal now had to be protect Lily, not rescue those who were supposed to be there when Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione were captured.

Lily felt pity for those who were stuck in the cellar, shut up like animals in a cage. "Vic? It wouldn't hurt to help them, would it?"

"Did your dad ever tell you what happened down here?"

"He told me that story a couple of times, but never when Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione are around."

"So you know why we can't-"

"So you're saying that you can't help us?" asked Dean.

"I think she means that if we leave here, we'll mess up the future," Luna said. "Time is a very fickle thing; thinking about it can make a person's brain all tangled up. And you can never be too sure of the tempesurs."

"The what?" asked Dean.

"They gather around sights where time is messed up. You should have seen how many of them there were at the Ministry. But those time turners just broke. How did you get here?"

"I have been wondering that myself," said Ollivander.

Victoire was grateful for the change in topic. "It was all my brother's fault," admitted Lily.

"Yes, my cousin James and my other cousin, Freddie, decided to go in the attic and they found a time turner." She clenched her fists as if longing to put them around James' and Freddie's throats.

Luna didn't bother to tell her that time turners do nothing when they break. "It wasn't a normal one, wasn't it, Vic? It was as big as a quaffle and had funny markings on it."

"So James threw it, it shattered, and we ended up here. And they are…."

"Well, we don't know," finished Lily, and she looked downcast, as did Victoire. Their entire family (plus Scorpius) was missing. Victoire was wondering if she'd ever get to kiss Teddy again, or tease Dominique and hug Louis, or even get to yell at her cousins. Lily was remembering all the fun times she had had with her family. Playing a prank on Albus with James. Sitting by the lake with Hugo. Telling Rose and Scorpius to get a room…

The cellar was silent once more except for the sounds of Griphook eating his dinner. Even Dean, who was adamant to get out of there as soon as possible and Ollivander, who in no way wanted another encounter with Voldemort, stayed silent. Luna went over and crouched beside Victoire and Lily, rubbing circles into their backs.

"Thanks, Luna," said Victoire, looking up at the younger girl.

"Yeah, thanks," Lily added.

"So, are we getting out of here or not?" asked Griphook, who had finished his meal.

"You can tell us what to do to not affect the future," suggested Dean.

"I do need to get Lily and myself out of here, but-" She sighed, feeling guilty at the thought of leaving four people (if Griphook could be counted as a person) in the dank, miserable space.

"It might not affect the future _too_ much," Lily insisted, looking up at Victoire with big hazel eyes. Leaving anyone here was too sadistic for her.

"OH FOR MERLIN'S SAKE, HELP US, GIRL!" shouted Griphook.

"Quiet!" hissed Dean.

"NO! I'LL BE QUIET WHEN SHE GETS ME OUT OF HERE! I'VE BEEN HERE FOR ABOUT A COUPLE WEEKS; WE BOTH HAVE, BOY, AND I WANT OUT."

Victoire did not want to be discovered. "Silencio," she said, pointing her wand at the goblin, who was silenced immediately.

"Thank you," Luna said. "It would have been unfortunate if he came down again, or even if she did."

"We have to get out of here," said Lily.

"I know, I know!" said Victoire a bit more loudly than she had planned. She had only a few seconds to decide even though she already knew the conclusion she would reach and did not like to think about the consequences. "Fine, I'll get you out of here."

Dean, Ollivander, Luna, and Lily smiled. "We'd better go now, though," said Dean.

"All right, but I'm only taking two at a time. Lily is going first; no arguments." She followed this with a pointed look at Lily.

"I'll go, too," said Dean, but he changed his mind when he noticed Luna. "Fine, Luna and Lily can go first, followed by me and Ollivander." Griphook jumped up and pointed to himself in an exaggerated fashion.

"Okay. Then I'll go back for Griphook. Luna, Lily, grab my arms." Luna took the left and Lily took the right. "Okay," Victoire muttered. "Determination, destination, and deliberation." She took a deep breath, then, with a flick of her wand, Victoire, Lily, and Luna felt like their bodies were being squeezed through a funnel.

* * *

They arrived in their location, Victoire upright, Luna bent over, and Lily on the ground, clutching her stomach. "That's apparition? Remind me to never do it again," Lily said.

Victoire quickly checked Lily and Luna over. "I think you two will be alright. And unfortunately Lily, you will have to do it again before the night is over." And she apparated away without another word.

"Where are we?" asked Lily. "It looks like-"

"We're in Diagon Alley," said Luna, mildly surprised. Why would the woman called 'Vic' take them there? She must've had a reason.

"It's different in the future." Lily remembered a cheerful place, where the lights in the windows were always on and the streets were full of the hustle and bustle of a hundred witches and wizards going about their everyday lives.

The Diagon Alley of 1998 was much different. Lily couldn't see how it was much an improvement from the Malfoy's basement (besides the lack of Death Eater Malfoys). It was just as dreary. Gloom and fear hung in the air and the streets were bare except for the rare scuffling of feet. Most of the shops were boarded up.

"Dementors," said Luna quietly, pointing to a wispy figure in the distance. "They are awful, even more so than other creatures." All wackspurts did was make a person's brain go all funny. Dementors… Luna remembered when one of them was brought in for Dark Arts class one day. She saw her mother lying dead on the floor and herself helpless to save her.

Lily had never seen a dementor before, but had heard horror stories about them. "I hope she comes back soon."

"She will," said Luna with confidence.

A minute or so after Luna had said that, Victoire, Dean, and Ollivander appeared before them. Dean was coughing and Olivander was leaning heavily on Victoire. Luna went over to help support him and he released his hold on Victoire. "Thank you, my dear," he said to Luna. "And to you too." He looked at Victoire.

"Should I go back to get the goblin? It should only take a minute."

"I suppose it would be cruel to keep him there," said Dean. Lily was inclined to agree with him. It wouldn't be fair if they left Griphook at the manor.

Luna piped up. "No, it would not be nice at all."

"So where are we?" Dean looked around. "Diagon Alley?"

"Why'd you take us here, Victoire?" asked Lily.

"First place I thought of. We'll decide what to do later," Victoire explained. "Stay quiet and safe. Wouldn't want your father thinking his precious baby girl's in danger, now do we?" She smiled at Lily, who grinned back, though the grin was partially forced. Victoire gave Lily a forced smile before she apparated away to retrieve Griphook.

* * *

At Malfoy Manor, Draco was home to be given another important task shortly by Lord Voldemort himself. Well, maybe not necessarily in person; he would likely send Draco's Aunt Bellatrix to relay the message. Draco winced at the thought. He had met his aunt for the first time last year and it was not one of his most pleasant memories.

With Lord Voldemort in control of wizarding Britain, all of the mudbloods were being rounded up and eliminated. He thought that the extermination of people of non-magical decent would make him happier, but it just left him with a strange empty feeling inside. He still felt that the mudbloods were inferior, make no mistake about that. Yet… he had just wanted them to be segregated and out of Hogwarts and more prestigious jobs, not exterminated entirely.

Even worse than the mudbloods being eradicated once and for all was the fact that he was under Voldemort's control and could do nothing about it, or else Voldemort would kill him and his family. The problem was, he was no killer. He'd realized it in his sixth year, but ever since Voldemort took over, he'd had to torture more people in the last year than he could count. The screams of the Lovegood girl still haunted him. She had always seemed so unshakable, yet she acted like anyone else under the Cruciatus curse.

The Lovegood girl was with the other hostages in the basement: the wandmaker, the black mudblood, and the goblin. Draco wasn't sure how he felt about hostages, but he knew he did not much like torturing and killing them.

Draco was seated in the sitting room on a velvet green sofa, his father beside him. They were waiting for dear Auntie Bellatrix to arrive and Draco was becoming slightly panicked, but he didn't let his father see. Lucius Malfoy kept his normal aristocratic expression, his face betraying no emotion. Lucius heard the goblin shout, along with other voices that attempted to silence him. "Draco," he began, taking a sip of his tea, "Check what all the fuss is about. The goblin's shouting and the others are beginning to annoy me." He took another sip of tea.

"I don't really see the problem, Father."

"All you need to do is check on them. Keep them quiet, you know how much your Aunt Bellatrix hates noise from prisoners."

_That she's not making them make herself_, thought Draco. He inwardly sighed. "Very well, father. I will check on the prisoners." He started to rise from the sofa.

"And Draco?"

"Yes, father?"

"Don't be afraid to be _persuasive_ in making them quiet."

"Of course, father."

On the way to the basement, he bumped into his mother, who was carrying a plate of food. "For your Aunt," she said. "Where are you going, Draco? We are going to have company."

"I won't be gone long, mother. Father told me to check on the prisoners."

She raised an eyebrow. "Very well. Do not take too long. And if one of them tries to make a run for it, don't let them. You know how displeased that will make your father and aunt."

"Very well, mother. I will not be too long." She gave him a kiss atop his head and let him continue on his way to the basement.

Draco trudged down the stair steps which were illuminated by the faint light of torches glowing off the stone. As Draco got to the last few steps, he heard a thumping noise and quickened his pace and pulled open the door.

What he saw, or rather what he didn't see behind the door shocked him. The Lovegood girl, the wand maker, and the black mudblood were gone. Only the goblin remained, but someone else was in the room, too. The woman who was holding up the goblin looked to be very young and quite beautiful with long blonde hair and a rather nice figure.

In a second, Draco put together all of the pieces. The woman had taken the other prisoners and was about to take this one, too. He would be in a heap of trouble and his dear Auntie Bella might 'punish' him. As the girl raised her wand, he raced forward and leaped to knock down the girl, but it was too late. He had a grip around her arm, though. Then a second later, he was gone.

* * *

Lily, Luna, Dean, and Ollivander were waiting anxiously for Victoire to return with Griphook. Dean was supporting Ollivander, who seemed to be sick and on the verge of collapsing. Apparation didn't suit a nervous old man who had been tortured occasionally in the previous weeks.

Lily absentmindedly twirled a strand of red hair around her finger as she waited and her eyes were large and alert. Where was Victoire? Lily knew that she couldn't have been gone long, but each second felt like a millennium.

Lily tried not to think unpleasant thoughts, but unfortunately, unpleasant thoughts tend to cross our minds when we least want them to. Her stomach twisted as she wondered where her family might be at the moment: Albus and James and Hugo and Louis and Teddy and all the rest. The only thought that gave her minor satisfaction was the thought that if she did see her eldest brother and his partner in crime, she would murder them on the spot. Not literally of course, but she would make them regret the day they had ever been born. _If_ she ever saw them again…

There was commotion as three separate bodies landed in the alley. Victoire felt a shooting pain in her right side where the Malfoy boy had attacked. Thank Merlin she was left-handed. Griphook had landed about three feet to her left, but Draco Malfoy was lying atop her.

"Victoire!" she heard Lily cry. "What happened?" Victoire pushed Draco off of her and pulled out her wand, keeping it pointed at Draco as she rose to her feet.

"Draco Malfoy?" asked Luna curiously. Dean and Ollivander also looked at their captor as he too rose to his feet, drawing his own wand as well.

Luna bent down to help up Griphook, who was rubbing his head, still silent. Everybody else had their eyes on Draco and Victoire. "Who're you?" Draco asked Victoire. "And you?" He had spotted Lily, who looked at Scorpius' father, her eyes widening. "What business do you have, taking our prisoners like that?"

"What business do you have, hoarding prisoners?" Victoire responded, her voice even.

Draco saw that this woman was older than him and that she probably knew more magic than he. Therefore, he did not bother with any more conversation. "Impedimenta!" he cried, knocking Victoire backwards into a wall. She scrambled to get up, reaching for her wand.

Lily pulled out her own wand. Although she could not use magic outside of Hogwarts, her father had lectured her on the importance of being able to defend yourself in unexpected situations. And getting sent back in time was certainly unexpected. Thinking she may only have one shot at attacking Draco, she used the one spell her father had claimed to have saved his lives multiple times, and therefore advised her to practice. "Expelliarmus!" She pointed her wand at Draco's hand and it did not miss the mark. His wand flew out of his hand and he did not have time to retrieve it before Victoire was on the offensive.

"Petrificus totalus!" Victoire said as Lily ran over to pick up Draco's wand. Draco's body froze immediately and as he fell over, he hit his head on the ground. Dean, Ollivander, and Luna watched from near the wall of the alleyway, unable to do anything.

Victoire looked at the teenager with pity, knowing at least some of his backstory. She bent down to heal his wounds and saw the fear, remorse, and confusion in his eyes. She almost felt guilty for having to curse him, but she was left without much choice.

Victoire heard steps in the distance which were coming closer and a voice that asked, "What was the commotion?"

"What're they up to?" said another voice.

Victoire stood up. "He'll be fine. He's a pureblood. We have to go. Now." Though her voice was quiet, it was commanding and her companions did not argue. "Move, Lily!" Lily shoved the wand of Draco Malfoy into her pocket and ran off behind Victoire.

They did not cover an enormous distance. Luna and Dean, who were supporting Griphook and Ollivander respectively (though Griphook was lighter and in better condition), did not move as fast, though they moved quietly. Looking behind her, Victoire saw how slow they were going and ran back to help Dean support Ollivander. "Thanks," he said, but there was not time for more words.

"Over there!" cried Lily, pointing to a dark alleyway. She gestured for Victoire, Dean, Luna, Ollivander and Griphook to follow, and then she ran back to help Luna with Griphook. "Thank you, Lily. I can handle him by myself just fine, though. He's not that heavy."

"No problem," said Lily, who hoisted Griphook's right arm over her shoulder. The goblin grunted in response. They all filed into the alleyway, backs to the wall and breathing as quietly as they possibly could, which sounded like a dying automobile engine.

They heard the noise of footsteps on the cobbled street, which ceased as they supposedly found Draco. "Why, hello there!" said one in a gravelly voice that they heard from a distance.

"What're you up to?" said the second voice. This one was higher-pitched than the first. Lily winced. Perhaps she should have left Draco's wand with him. She looked up at VIctoire's gaunt face.

Victoire looked back with an expression that seemed to say, 'He'll be alright. We'll be alright. Don't worry.' Victoire hoped that if she thought that and believed it, everything would turn out alright. Of course, she knew it was a stupid thing to hope.

"What's the matter? Dementor got your tongue?" said the first.

"No you idiot, he's not moving."

"Maybe he's dead."

"Or maybe he's been cursed," said the second man.

"Could be."

"Here, I'll get him to talk." There was a short pause as the second man presumably did a spell to revive Draco. "Now boy, what's your name?"

"Unhand me, you both. I am Draco Malfoy, pureblood and my father is a very important man in the Ministry." Victoire, Lily, Luna, and Dean thought they heard a slight quiver in Draco's voice.

"A Malfoy?" asked the first man. "What's one of your lot doing here? Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?"

"I- uh had important business to attend to. I ended up here by accident. There was this woman, and she…"

"A woman? Who was she and what was her blood status?" demanded the second man.

"I don't know, all I know is-"

"All right, Malfoy. Let's get you home to your father, if what you say is true," interrupted the second man. "And you, stay here and search for that so-called woman. I want to make some profit tonight."

"Okay," said the first man. Victoire held a finger to their lips once more, but nobody needed to be told twice to be quiet. Victoire and Lily took pity on Draco, having to be sent back home to an undoubtedly angry father. Dean tried to hold his breath and Ollivander at the same time and Luna sang a tune in her head.

There was a quiet _pop_ as the second man presumably apparated away with Draco. The first snatcher went scouring the streets of Diagon Alley, trying to move as quietly as possible and not entirely succeeding. Nevertheless, the group stayed still. Diagon Alley was quiet in the dead of the night and any large movements could alert the snatcher of their presence.

They could sense as the snatcher neared their hiding spot. He got closer and closer to their corner and when he passed it, they all felt relieved. But soon afterward, the footsteps ceased as the man paused. Then they increased suddenly in speed and sound. Victoire tried to blend into the wall, to no avail. They group saw a pair of bright eyes glinting at them from the head of the alleyway.

Victoire made a split-second decision. She could have let the man find them, giving him the upper-hand, or she could attack first. She chose the latter, running out into the alleyway in plain sight of the man. _Stupefy!_ she thought, but she had never been very good with nonverbal offensive spells.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked angrily. Now the man would know they were there. Still keeping close to the wall, Lily ran after her cousin.

"Can you manage?" Dean asked Ollivander, who nodded wearily in response. Dean ran after Lily, followed closely by Luna, who had gently released her grip on the goblin.

Victoire's spell did not hit her mark the way she intended; it was a centimeter off and weakened by the way she cast it. She ran towards the snatcher in a zip-zag pattern, bringing the fight out into the alleyway. He shot a stunner at her, which hit her and knocked her backwards, keeping a tight hold on her wand.

"Impedimenta!" cried Lily, who had never been very good at that curse. The snatcher turned around, giving Victoire enough time to rise to her feet.

"Look out, Lily!" warned Luna, as Lily now had the snatcher's full attention. Lily turned around as the snatcher aimed his wand.

"Stupefy!" That spell came, not from the snatcher, but from Victoire. The snatcher was knocked over, but quickly rose to his feet and turned to face Victoire. He was knocked over again by Dean and Luna, both of whom had jumped on his back. Dean and Luna quickly got off of him though Dean, who had often played football, kicked the man.

"Petrificus totalus!" said Victoire and the snatcher's arms and legs locked together as he froze in place.

"You reckon we should wipe him?" asked Dean.

"He did see our faces; he could describe us," said Victoire. "It couldn't hurt."

"Draco Malfoy saw you too," reminded Luna. "And he's probably at home by now." She said this sadly, for she had seen the fear and regret in Draco Malfoy's eyes from the first moment he had been at the manor. "He doesn't look like he's going anywhere soon."

"Take his wand," said Dean, who needed one. He couldn't tackle people all the time to defend himself. Dean pried the snatcher's fingers open, taking the medium-length, mahogany wand.

"Obliviate," said Victoire, pointing her wand at the snatcher. She then looked away from him. "Lily?"

"We should get Ollivander and Griphook now," Luna said to Dean.

Dean looked thoughtfully at the wand in his hands. "You want this?" He held the wand up to her.

"No thank you. I'm not sure if it'd work for me, anyways," responded Luna. They walked down the alleyway to retrieve Ollivander and Griphook, who were sitting against the wall.

"Lily?!" Victoire did not want to raise her voice too much, but she was beginning to panic.

"Yes, Victoire?" Victoire sighed in relief.

"Where are you?"

"Over here. Look what I found." Lily sounded excited.

"Bring it over, then. Hurry."

While Victoire and the others were contemplating obliviating the snatcher, Lily had noticed something lying on the ground in the distance, and ran down the street to get a closer look. It was nothing particularly special to someone who would have taken a quick glance. It was just a Quidditch booklet titled _Quidditch: A Guide to This Year's Hottest Brooms, Balls, and Players_. Something about the booklet seemed vaguely familiar to Lily, though. She brought it over to Victoire.

"A booklet on Quidditch?"

"Doesn't it look familiar, though?" Lily insisted.

Victoire had to admit it did. "Give it to me." Lily did. Victoire took a close look at the cover, then opened the booklet. Inside it was the news of Gwenog Jones' retirement (wait, didn't that happen last year?), the top players of Ireland (didn't those names look like last year's roster?), and an advertisement for the Windwhisperer 1000. "Lily, look at this." She showed the advertisement to Lily, who gasped. The Windwhiperer 1000 was a new broom with unparalleled windspeeds that came out in 2021.

"The Windwhisperer?"

"What's a Windwhisperer?" asked Luna, who had come up behind Victoire and Lily.

"It sounds like the name of a broom," said Ollivander, who coughed.

"I've never heard of it," said Dean. Though he was not as well-versed in the ways of Quidditch as he was football, he still knew most of the brooms that had been made.

"It is a broom," explained Victoire. "It came out in 2021."

"So wait, there are other time-travelers?"

"I think that when the time turner dropped, all our cousins went with us," said Victoire. "But we don't know where they are."

Lily knew who was most likely to carry such a book around. "Lucy. I think I saw Mum give it to her. So Lucy's here, then." Her spirits lifted at the thought.

"She might be." Victoire thought for a moment. "But then, why would she leave her booklet behind?"

"Maybe she dropped it," suggested Lily.

"Even so, that doesn't explain where she is. She must've heard us if she was here, right?"

The small grin that had appeared on Lily's face from the hope that another of her cousins might be nearby evaporated and everybody was silent for a moment, then they heard footsteps.

Victoire shoved the booklet into her pocket.

"Can you apparate us out of here?" asked Dean.

Victoire frowned. "I've never tried more than two as once." The footsteps came closer.

"Daddy says that you never know until you try something," said Luna conversationally.

Victoire had to decide quickly. "Fine. Lily, grab my arm. Luna, you and Griphook get the other one and Dean and Ollivander, please hold onto my shoulder." Everyone did as they were told and the footsteps got faster and louder. Victoire chanted her lessons like a mantra in her head. _Destination, determination, deliberation. Destination, determination, deliberation. Destination, determination, deliberation._ With a _pop_, she and the five others were gone.

* * *

The first thing Victoire heard after hitting the ground was the waves crashing against the rocks. They had landed in grass, which was what she was aiming for; the small grassy knoll where she had played tag as a young child. As it was spring, the grass was lush and the trees were budding. She looked out in the darkness, expecting to see her house, Shell Cottage, but instead she saw nothing.

She heard a moan three feet to her left and when she turned her head, she saw Lily on the ground, bleeding. Some skin on her arm had been splinched. Victoire recited some incantations she had learned, which slowed the bleeding. "Lily, you're going to be okay," she cooed. "You're going to be okay."

Lily winced from the pain. "The others," she panted. Of course. The others. Victoire stood up. They too were lying on the grass and covered in red. Victoire shut her eyes tightly for a second (not a moment longer) as a rush of guilt came over her. She shouldn't have tried to take along too many passengers.

Griphook was okay; Dean was only missing his eyebrows and the fingernails on both of his hands, which were bleeding. Victoire healed these injuries with ease. But Luna was missing patches of skin on her forearms and lower legs, as though they had been carved out of her with some dastardly knife. Ollivander was unconscious, his cheek bleeding. Victoire knew that her spells would not be enough. Lily, Ollivander, and Luna were in need of essence of Dittany.

She took a deep breath. She may not have essence of Dittany, but she had one other healing ingredient in her pocket: a bottle of Phoenix Tears. He supply was limited, though, so she only used it in worse-case senarios. She had a feeling that she would be experiencing a lot of those before her little adventure was done. Nevertheless, she rummaged through her pocket to find the bottle.

She started with Luna, who had been splinched the most. Her first thought was to attend to Lily, but she was healed enough for the time being. Luna was lying in the grass face-up, gazing at the stars and breathing deeply. Luna looked so small and her eyes were opened wide like a bug whose wings had been wounded. Luna tried to keep the sounds of agony off her lips and tried to detatch herself from the pain. She had heard that some muggles used a sort of trance called 'meditation' to detatch themselves from the outside world. Victoire dropped small amounts of Phoenix Tears on Luna's wounded flesh and the dreamy look returned to the blonde's face.

Griphook sat up and Dean rose slowly to his feet, making his way over to Victoire and Luna. "She'll be alright," said Victoire. "Check on Lily." She would never forgive herself if Lily got that badly injured again. Dean nodded.

Victoire yearned to help Lily, but Ollivander was more urgent. She healed his cheek, but he remained unconscious. Victoire gave him a few drops of the Phoenix Tears and moved to heal Lily. The redhead stood up almost immediately afterward. Luna lied in the grass, looking up at the stars.

"Where are we?" asked Dean, looking over at Ollivander's unconscious form.

"Are we near your house, Victoire?" Lily inhaled deeply, breathing in the nighttime air.

"Shell Cottage is over there, apparently." Victoire pointed to a place not far off in the distance. Where a cottage should have stood, there was only more grass. Victoire sat down in the soft grass and was soon followed by Dean sitting near her and Lily on her lap. Victoire was lost in thought as she looked up at the night sky, resting for once. _It must be the Fidelius charm. How will I find Maman and Papa now? If there's no place to stay, how will I keep them safe?_

* * *

**AN: Please review! I'm a bit unsure with my portrayal of Luna here. I tried to keep her as in-character as possible here; please tell m****e if it worked.**


	7. Wizarding Underground

**Chapter 7: Wizarding Underground**

**AN: Thanks to those who reviewed and favorited!**

**Chapter Summary: Unable to stay at a safe house that night, Dominique and Lucy, along with their companions, find themselves in an undisclosed location for the night, ready to travel in the morning.**

* * *

_There was no time to back out. As the glow got brighter and brighter, Dominique and Lucy felt sharp tugs at their navels as they were whisked away to wherever the portkey took them._

If someone were to ask Lucy Weasley which landing she preferred, the one in which she landed in the past on the tiles of Diagon Alley or the one she had just experienced in which her body came into contact with more hard stone, she would have scowled and made a rude gesture in the direction of said person. She really did need to learn how to land upright. Beside her landed Dominique, who flayed her arms out in an attempt to gain her balance. The man who had brought them here landed without a falter in his step. The tallest of their companions was supporting the shortest who, like Lucy, had landed on her/his bottom. The final companion, who was a head below the man, had flayed his/her arms in a dramatic display before falling and getting up again, then extending a hand to Lucy, but she turned it down.

"I'm fine, thanks. I can get up on my own." She slowly rose to her feet and wiped the grime on her hands on her robe, something her dad would have scolded her for, but she was more concerned at the moment with actually getting to see her family than what they might think of her. She felt a tickle in the back of her throat as she breathed in the rank, damp air and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. She looked around to get a scope of the place, but the lighting was dim and emanating from torches on the wall, which was made from the same cobbled stone as the ground. The place looked to be a tunnel and judging by the smell, Lucy supposed she was in a sewer.

Dominique took notice of her surroundings as well and was not pleased by what she saw. She only hoped that this wasn't some horrible trick and the man hadn't taken them all here to be murdered. She could think of much better places to die. "This is just bloody wonderful," she muttered under her breath, raising her wand. "Lumos," she whispered as her wand tip ignited.

The man turned his head towards Dominique. "Put that down," he told her.

Dominique did not lower her wand, but the light retreated back into it. "Where are we?" she asked a bit too loudly, as her voice echoed slightly throughout the tunnel. Once, she had gone into the sewers for a mission, but she did not recognize this particular one, as the ones she had been in were made of cement.

"We're in a sewer," he said as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. _Thanks. Like I didn't figure that already,_ thought Dominique. "And we'll be here a lot longer if you're not quiet." He held a finger up to his face at Dominique, and then at Lucy. The others remained quiet without needing a reminder, as if they had been through this before.

The popping noise a moment later slightly startled Dominique and Lucy. A figure appeared clad in a similar outfit to the man's (loose dark cloak, scarf obscuring the face) and held a file in his/her left hand. When the figure spoke in hushed tones, it was clear she was a woman. Neither Lucy nor Dominique could place a name to the voice, however. "Lumos," she whispered. "27, we meet again. Another was supposed to meet you, but 11 got into a bit of trouble."

"Nice to see you again too, 8," responded the man, but it did not seem as if he was too happy to be seeing her. "And number 11 is…"

"He was chased by a member of the Ministry, but for now he's found haven in Romania with an old friend. He tried to help someone, unaware that he was imperised and being watched. Speaking of helping someone, I see you've brought along two extras. Our safe house wasn't expecting more than three." With her right hand 8 gestured toward Dominique and Lucy. Dominique noted the impatience in the woman's voice.

27, which was apparently what the man was called, responded in a cool tone. "Found those two at Diagon Alley. Don't seem under the influence of the Imperius, do they? They looked like they needed some help and it was just getting dark. Unless you'd rather the Snatchers have two more wands and bodies?"

8 paused for a moment. "Very well, I think we can get some papers for them, too. Who are they?"

Lucy spoke up. "I'm Lucy Jin. Nice to meet you. Where the hell are we going?"

27 snapped his head back towards her and his scarf dipped slightly, revealing fierce brown eyes and dark skin. The harsh glare in those eyes almost made Lucy look away, though it took some willpower not to do so. Dominique glared right back at the man; the woman seemed unperturbed. "I'm Dominique, her sister."

"Of course you are. I can see the… similarities," said the woman.

"I take after my mother," said Lucy.

"It is no matter. Your names are irrelevant, of course, as you'll be getting new ones, but what is your blood status? Why are you on the run?" asked the woman.

"We –" Lucy began.

"We're muggleborn. Got separated from our parents a while back." Dominique hoped the woman would believe them, especially since she knew that her veela power was partially visible.

"They died," added Lucy. "We're orphans, tragic orphans trying to survive and make it to freedom."

"Very tragic," Dominique said, thinking that what Lucy said could help them. If they set themselves up as orphans, then whatever group this was wouldn't try looking for their parents. "I've been takin' care of Luce here for five years now. Not easy, I tell ya', raising a girl like her." She put her arm around Lucy's shoulder momentarily, then pulled back.

Lucy nodded and grinned at the woman. "What can I say? I'm a troublemaker."

Their answer seemed to satisfy the woman. "We can find you two fake papers as soon as tomorrow. Here are the papers for the others." She handed the papers to 27. "I'm here to tell you that he can't have all of you over tonight, but in the morning, instead."

"So, where are they staying tonight?" asked 27.

"Here." Out of her robe pockets the woman took a plastic hairbrush. "There's a place you can stay the night, a temporary stop between safe-houses. The protective enchantments are already set up. All other instructions are in the files. You know what to do when you've memorized them, I suppose?"

"Like I haven't done this dozens of times before. Burn them, I know."

"Hopefully, you won't need to do this dozens of times more. It's getting harder, 27. These people will have to stay at his house for about a week, but after that, we may be able to get them out of Britain." 27 nodded. She walked over to the second closest person to her, which was Dominique, and pulled something out of her pocket. "I always keep extras." The item was a small silver pin that glinted in the dim light.

"A souvenir for our trip?" asked Lucy. _Great, if we make it back, we might as well be wearing buttons that say 'I survived time traveling to the Second Wizarding War. At least it'll be something to tell all my friends. _She glanced back at the man who now took no notice of her or Dominique, as he was now speaking in hushed tones to the three others.

The woman fastened the pin to Dominique's denim shirt, took out a second one, and pinned it to Lucy's T-shirt. Dominique read the writing on the pin. "The flame may devour the phoenix, but the bird rises from the ashes. Don't give up hope." Lucy tugged on her cloak to bring the pin to her face. The image on the front was a phoenix engulfed in flames with an olive branch in its beak.

_The flame may devour the phoenix, but the bird rises from the ashes_. Lucy had heard that before, when she was younger. She recalled a short woman with black hair at the door, talking quietly to her father, then taking off, but she said that sentence before she did so. Dominique remembered hearing it, recalled dressing up and listening to the memorial of the war when she was younger. A tall woman had said it under her breath as Minister Shacklebolt mentioned all that had been done to help muggleborns.

A few yards away, a _pop_ was heard, followed by a scuffle. "The portkey should be ready soon," said the woman. "I have to go; good luck." Dominique could've sworn the phrase _try not to _die was implied. In another pop, 8 was gone.

A faint cough came from the smallest in the group and the tallest pulled him/her closer. Dominique thought that the two must be related. The hairbrush began to glow, the blue light illuminating Dominique's and Lucy's faces. Dominique felt exposed, as besides Lucy, all the other members of the group had their faces covered. Such secrecy was a worthy precaution on the run, she supposed. "Grab onto the brush now," ordered 27, and Dominique, Lucy, and the other three each put a finger on the hairbrush. Once more (and they had a terrible feeling that this would begin to become a common occurrence), Dominique and Lucy felt tugs at their navels as the portkey whisked them away.

* * *

Dominique immediately decided she preferred wood to stone and Lucy would have to agree with that sentiment, but the landing was still a bit rough. Dominique's ankles took the toll of the landing and she swayed a bit, but still managed to keep her balance. She tried to steady Lucy as well, but Lucy's wrists took the force of the landing and she shakily rose to her feet, muttering curses under her breath. Dominique gave Lucy a small smile despite herself, though it was strained. "Lovely vocabulary. If your father could hear what you were saying…"

"At least I wouldn't be as dead as James and Freddie when their mothers get ahold of them," Lucy muttered quietly back. She hoped that Aunt Ginny and Aunt Angelina would get a chance to scold their sons, and she would be around to see them do it. For a blissful moment she envisioned sitting in a lawn chair while James and Freddie got what was coming to them (her friend Frank would probably suggest bringing popcorn). She could hear her Aunt Ginny's shrieks and hexes already…

The place where they ended up was dimly lit, but Dominique could hear hushed voices and see small glows of light from various spots, illuminating sallow faces. They were in a shack, one roughly the size of Dominique's kitchen plus her parlor back home. Including her own group, the shack held approximately 20 people, most of them huddled together like small dens of rabbits, all with tattered clothing. Upon the group's arrival, most everyone looked at them and for a moment, Dominique felt a surge of empathy rise up in her as she could see the hunger, loss and sadness within their eyes. She was reminded momentarily of one of her first cases as a wizard cop involving an abusive father and his unfed family.

Lucy's eyes widened at the sight and although she was used to people watching her, she had rarely felt so uncomfortable. At first the people looked at her as though she was going to bring them some kind of good news, then their faces fell as they realized that nothing particularly good or noteworthy was happening, just more bodies to take up space. She wanted to glare at them like they were staring at her, but she found that she didn't quite have the heart for it.

Lucy heard the scuffling feet of her other companions, who were still wearing their scarves. When they had appeared, a few people looked up at the newcomers. "What're you looking at?" 27 asked everyone who was still staring, but most people had lost interest in the newcomers.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are we?" asked Dominique, who had not yet released her grip on her wand, though she doubted these refugees would attack. Everything seemed to have passed in a blur. Roughly three hours previous, she had been finishing up dinner with her family.

The man glanced down at the files in his hand. "That's unimportant; we'll only be staying the night. Right now, the only thing you have to do is eat."

"Eat?" asked Lucy, who didn't see a kitchen. Or anyone eating. "And then?"

"Says here you'll be at the safe-house." He looked down at the parchment and Dominique could almost hear him sigh inwardly. "The man who lives there is apparently busy at the moment. Besides, he wasn't expecting two extras to come along for the ride and probably wants to be _prepared_ and _organized_." The way 27 said those words gave Dominique the impression that he didn't like the man very much.

"Are your answers always this vague?" asked Lucy conversationally.

"They have to be," he answered.

"My sister means to say that we've been traveling for a while, looking for some help and we'd appreciate some answers," said Dominique. She tried to contain her frustration, as she liked seeing all the pieces before putting together the puzzle. So far, she had understood that she and Lucy had stumbled onto the wizarding underground, something she had heard rumors of, and were now waiting to go to some sort of safe house. Though the man might not be giving any answers, perhaps she could find some willing participants.

"I'm giving you as much as I can. All you need to know for right now is that you're here and there's food in there."

"Ah, so we'll only be here a few hours, then? No need to worry, we'll be out of here 'fore noon." The tallest of the group spoke in an east London accent and Lucy and Dominique could finally give their companion a sex. The voice was a bit high, like Albus', but was masculine nonetheless. While Lucy and Dominique turned to look at him, he did not notice because he said this to the smallest member of the group.

"Very well then," said the smallest member, who was a girl. Her voice was so slight that Lucy and Dominique strained to hear it. "So we'll be out of the country soon, Papa?"

"Of course." That father laid a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"So exactly when will we be out of the country, then?" asked Dominique, who was hoping that this question would earn a real answer even though she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to leave the country where her siblings and cousins could possibly be. But perhaps it would be for the best to figure out the whole mess away from imminent danger, such as the most feared dark wizard of all time.

"I don't know," said 27. _Big shocker there_, thought Lucy. "It depends. We're planning on getting you lot to the states. _If_ we can ever get there."

"And how long will we be at the safe house?" queried Dominique.

"Whose house is it anyways?" Lucy asked. She was going to be driven mad with a lack of information. _Great job, dear cousins. Last time I follow those four_.

"I told you, it depends." 27 had more irritation in his voice than before. "I know where you're most likely going to end up tomorrow, but this whole system… once you devise a better way for transporting muggleborns out of the United Kingdom, let me know. Anyways, you'll find out soon enough where you're staying. Probably won't be seeing him much anyways. He's got a job. Now, running from the government always gives me an appetite. I'm going to get you lot some food." He strode past Dominique and Lucy and through the people crouched on the floor, careful not to step on anyone. He came to a door Lucy had just noticed and walked through it.

"Thanks for the information," Dominique muttered. Lack of knowledge in a situation always put her on edge. When she was at Hogwarts, one of the mottos of Slytherin house had been 'cunning is how to act: know as much about the situation as possible, then make it work in your favor; the more you know, the more it works.'

"Someone's got a pole jammed up his arse," muttered Lucy, pointing in the direction of the door.

The other three companions began to remove their hoods and scarves, placing them on the ground at their feet. The father had light brown hair, fair skin, and dark eyes, while his daughter appeared to be of Asian descent, but a different nationality than Lucy. The one who had been quiet so far revealed himself to be male, with dark brown hair and eyes with small flecks of green. He looked no older than 20 and if Dominique had to guess, she'd say he hadn't even finished Hogwarts.

The tall man extended a hand to Dominique. "Name's Albert, Albert Raney."

She shook the hand gingerly. "Nice to meet you, too," she said. He extended the same hand to Lucy.

"I'm Lucy, Lucy-"

"Jin," Dominique interrupted. She might as well keep up the lie. "I'm Dominique and we're sisters."

"So I've heard," said the man. "Not the first orphans I've seen; nowadays, lots of people are due to the new Ministry snatching up every parent they can find. Though you two don't look much alike, but I suppose that's the way with some siblings nowadays, eh?"

"I suppose," said Dominique.

The young man moved closer to get a better look at Lucy. "You look a bit familiar," he said, squinting his eyes. "Have you ever been to Lucy's Diner?"

Lucy had, repeatedly. The muggle diner was where her parents had met and where she had worked the previous summer. "And you are-"

"Name's Justin, Justin Finch-Fletchley. Don't worry about 27, he never tells us where we're going much, for safety reasons I think. It's always the same routine; get papers and information in the sewers, then go to a house for a few days. I've been with him since late September. Found him – well, he found me in a muggle pub near the Leaky Cauldron. We've been trying to get out of the UK for a while now."

The name Finch-Fletchley rang a bell, but Lucy could not remember where she had heard it. Perhaps it was a name her father said in passing? Or was it her mother? Justin could potentially know her, given the 'Lucy's Diner' reference. Dominique thought she heard her father and or Uncle Percy mention him in passing. Neither one of them recognized the surname 'Raney.'

"And this is my daughter." Albert gave the Asian girl a gentle push.

"Julia Raney," she said, looking up at Dominique and Lucy and then returning her attention to the ground.

"A pleasure meeting you, Julia," said Dominique warmly. She looked at Albert and Justin. "We're new to this thing," she said. "So we were wondering if you could possibly tell us what's going on. We're not from here." Lucy thought that was an understatement.

"What were you doing in Diagon Alley, then?" asked Justin.

"Apparation went wrong," lied Dominique, despite the fact that she had passed her test with flying colors. Victoire was the one of her siblings who occasionally had trouble with apparating, though Louis was no expert.

"Tell me about it," muttered Lucy. "It was like having my insides beaten by a thousand effing Bludgers. So how'd you lot get involved with Mr. I-don't-know-I'll-tell-you-later over there?"

"I dunno, Luce. I was charmed by his cheerful disposition." To Dominique, the man had given off an air of reluctance for his job. Half of her supposed that she should be glad that she was off Diagon Alley, while the other part hated the uncertainty of where she was going to go.

"He's like that most of the time," Julia said quietly, glancing back at her father.

"Nothing to be too off-put about," said Albert. "Julia and I've been with him since around January, haven't we, Jules?" Julia nodded.

" "Why haven't you made it out of Great Britain yet?" asked Lucy. "I mean, September, January… it's March, right?" She looked at Dominique, who nodded.

"The Ministry's been keen on searching everyone who tries to leave the country," explained Justin. Dominique nodded again and Lucy gave a small shake of her head. "Of course, before then, it was just this whole system and trying to get the right paperwork."

"But soon, we'll be out of the United Kingdom for good! Well, at least until You-Know-Who is no longer in charge of the Ministry, that is. That Harry Potter had better hurry up before all the muggleborns have been rounded up or escaped. Well, I'm not actually muggleborn, but Julia here –" Albert clasped his daughter's shoulder "– I've got no way of proving her actual parentage."

"I'm adopted," said Julia, looking at the floor.

"So, you think that Harry Potter can save the day? You might have to wait a few more months before that happens." Lucy smirked, though Dominique squeezed her wrist tightly.

"He's in my year at Hogwarts," said Justin. "Well, when we both went to Hogwarts. I mean, we didn't talk much, me being in Hufflepuff and he being Gryffindor and all. But if anyone can stop this, he can. He's a brave bloke. Seems a bit off kilter sometimes, but he's quite brave."

"From what I've seen of him – in _The Daily Prophet_, of course – he does seem brave," Dominique agreed. "I'm sure that wherever he is, he's working to put an end to this war." She allowed herself a momentary smile for her uncle. She and him had never been particularly close, but when they had talked, those times had been civil. The most memorable moment they had shared was during Christmas of her first year at Hogwarts. He reassured her that Slytherins didn't have to be evil – not that she didn't know that, but it was nice to hear it from his mouth all the same, especially when many of her other relatives – sans Molly, her siblings, her mother, and her Uncle Percy – had seemed slightly wary of her.

"Yeah, that Harry Potter's a real hero. At least he's got some sense, hiding. And he hasn't been caught." Dominique looked up to see 27 standing above them, holding a tray with five bowls on it. "Dinner is served, though we came in a bit late. Eat up, then it's lights out." He bent down and began passing out bowls to Albert, Justin, Julia, Dominique, and Lucy.

Lucy looked down at her bowl and picked up the spoon that was stuck in it, poking at the bowl's contents. The 'food' seemed to be a brownish-grey mixture. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "So… what exactly are we supposed to be eating?"

"Oatmeal," 27 responded. "The kitchens back there didn't have much left, and they didn't want to make anything grand. It's edible."

"You sure?" asked Lucy, but she gingerly took a small bite anyways. It wasn't that bad, if you could get past the taste and the texture. Okay, it was that bad. She felt a pang in her heart as she remembered dinner just a few hours previously and she fought the tear that threatened to well in her eye. _Stupid_, she chastised herself. _Stupid, stupid_.

She took small bites of the oatmeal as she watched the rest of her companions eat. Justin ate nonchalantly and she realized that he was probably used to the food. Albert cheerfully dug in, taking big spoonfuls like the oatmeal was pudding. He also tried to start up a conversation with Justin. Julia was eating hers slowly, shoulders hunched in. Dominique alternated between hesitantly swallowing food and trying to talk to 27.

"It doesn't sound like you have much faith in Harry Potter," Dominique was saying.

27 shrugged. "The kid failed to defeat him for good the first time. Even if he does, The Dark – You-Know-Who'll probably just rise again."

"Harry Potter defeated V – You-Know-Who when he was just a year old," Dominique reminded him. "And you don't believe that You-Know-Who could be defeated for good by a seventeen-year old, when he couldn't defeat a baby?"

_Spoilers_, thought Lucy. _And you're telling me that I was being to careless when talking about Uncle Harry_. She decided to join the conversation. "I mean, how hard is it to take out a baby?"she said. "You can kill one just by _holding_ it wrong."

"You-Know-Who is a very powerful wizard. Not many people know how a baby managed to defeat him, but now, The – You-Know-Who won't be as easy to defeat. If I was Harry Potter, I'd hide as well."

"Hmmmm," Dominique said. "Do you always use names like '27'?"

"Most of the members of the underground use numbers. For some reason, people thought that using names might get dangerous."

Dominique nodded. "I can't imagine why. But is there any significance in the number '27'?"

"It's just a number," he said. Dominique noticed that the room seemed to be getting quieter as more people lay down, curling in on each other. "I'll take your bowls, then."

Dominique looked down at her bowl before handing it over, noticing that she had not eaten much of the food. She felt strangely hungry and full at the same time. "I expect all of you to be lying down by the time I get back. I've got to see something for a couple hours."

"Ah, and we'll be moving on the next safe house, then? We'd better tuck in," said Albert, stretching his arms and lying down on the wooden floor.

"No pillows or blankets, then?" asked Lucy.

"This isn't exactly the lap of luxury," said 27. And they're all out of pillows."

"Looks like we're in for some sweet dreams, then," said Dominique quietly as 27 walked away. They were positioned in the corner, and Dominique motioned for Lucy to back further into it. They laid down, faces so close together they could hear the other's breath. Dominique pulled out her wand. "Muffalio."

"So now we're refugees during the second wizarding war," said Lucy. "I'm not exactly overcome with joy."

"Me either," agreed Dominique. "And I don't trust 27, regardless of what organization he claims to be working for."

"No shit. He does give of a sort of… vibe."

"It's more than that. He almost said the phrase 'Dark Lord' twice."

"So you still think we should travel with them?" Lucy asked.

"We don't have much of a choice," said Dominique. "It seems now that we're stranded here with no way to contact –"

"Contact the others, yeah. Maybe we can find a way when we get out of Great Britain."

"Maybe," Dominique said. "We're going to have to play this as it develops." They would find a way. She would find a way. Dominique had skill at wriggling her way out of uncomfortable situations. "Think of it like a game of Quidditch."

"You hardly show interest in Quidditch. You must be really tired."

"I am," admitted Dominique. "But still. It's like… you're the seeker, and you don't know which way the game is going to go, so you keep chasing for the snitch until you win. And you still watch your other surroundings as well."

"Your point being?"

"We're going to the safe house for now, but we have to remain cautious. We're not sure how much we can trust these people. We also can't try and modify the future too much, though from what Molly's told me – well, you've probably already heard many of her theories."

"Not really," Lucy said. Her sister never had a direct conversation with her about time travel theory and Lucy had gotten in the habit of tuning Molly and her father out whenever they talked about Molly's work. She and her sister had never been on the same wavelength.

"Well, some of it can be a bit boring, but if you filter through all that, some of Molly's research is interesting. And now it's unfortunately relevant. Apparently, there's one theory that basically says that if you go back in time and change the future, you're not really changing your own future."

"So then what are you changing?"

"Somebody else's future. I don't know all the specifics, but by time traveling, you create a whole new universe."

"So that's what breaking the time-turner did? Then we can fix – we could save some people. It wouldn't matter, whatever we did. But wait – if we're in a new universe, than how are we going to get home?" wondered Lucy.

"It's just a theory. It could be completely bonkers. But like I said, we shouldn't try to change things."

Lucy nodded, her head scraping against the wooden floor. "We should probably get some sleep."

"We've got a busy day of refugee-ing tomorrow. Though this is interesting in a way. The wizarding underground – it isn't something that people really go into detail about back home."

"Yeah," said Lucy, feeling adrenaline bubble in her chest at the prospect of a new experience. "'Night, Dominique."

"Good night, Lucy." Dominique lazily undid the muffalio spell and tried to position her head on the hard wooden floor. _Wherever they go next, I hope they have beds or a soft floor_, she thought._ Some answers would be nice, too._

* * *

**AN: I hope you like this chapter; I'm not exactly confident in the creation of either Lucy's or Dominique's characters. Or the entire wizarding underground, for that matter. I've been avoiding this chapter and writing parts of other ones for like, a year now. Please review!**

**AN2: Proud To Be A Gryffindor - I interpreted the book to mean that Bill, Fleur, and maybe Arthur were Secret Keepers of Shell Cottage originally, and maybe Bill also made Ron a Secret Keeper so he could tell Harry, like he told Dobby where to take the hostages. I assume that the Fidelius was removed, so although Victoire knew the location of the house, she hadn't been told by a Secret Keeper. Voldemort could have known where the Potters lived and have been told so by Snape, but he wouldn't have been able to actually find the place unless Pettigrew told him.**


	8. Meanwhile, In a Tent Somewhere

**Chapter 8: Meanwhile, In a Tent Somewhere…**

**AN: Thanks to those who reviewed and favorited! Please review! **

**Chapter Summary: Harry, Hermione, and Ron return to the tent with Scorpius, Albus, and Hugo. They have conversations.**

* * *

_"And where are the others?" wondered Hugo. "If we landed here, where did they end up? Teddy and Dominique and Lily and Rose…" His statement received nothing but silence._

Albus, Scorpius, and Hugo followed closely behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry glanced over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure that the time travelers were still there. Ron looked determinately straight ahead while Hermione eyed him suspiciously. What had happened with that locket that made Harry and Ron so keen not to discuss specifics? It was one of those instances where Harry and Ron shared a secret between themselves, leaving her in the dust.

Harry held his wand high, occasionally looking behind himself at Albus, Scorpius, and Hugo as if the three strangers would vanish at any moment. As he looked over his shoulder for the fifth time, he saw the three of them walking closely behind, staying together in a tight pack. They had been whispering before about "others." Harry assumed that the others were their family, which also made them… his family? Al had let slip that he was his father and he looked similar to him in the night and light glow of the wands.

Ron reached the tent first, looking at his surroundings before entering. With her wand held at her side, Hermione followed. Once he reached the protective enchantments, Harry stood aside to allow Al, Scorpius, and Hugo to pass before following them. "It might be a bit cramped with all of us," Harry said.

"It'll do," said Hermione as the three boys and Harry entered the tent. In the light, she could see them more clearly. Al seemed almost like a replica of a younger Harry, albeit without a scar. He looked somehow different, though, like he had been nurtured and cared for – he had more roundness to him than Harry. There was something else different about him, too, giving him a more feminine appearance than Harry ever had, as well as a shorter height, but the difference between Al and a fourth- (maybe fifth) year Harry was minimal. Scorpius was Malfoy down to the shape of his cool grey eyes; however, his hair was loose rather than slicked back and when he took in his surroundings as though he was absorbing every detail, she didn't feel like he possessed the same malice. It was Hugo, though, whose appearance in the light startled her the most. He was lean and relatively short, with a crop of curly brown hair and buck teeth that could be seen when he opened his mouth, which he did so when looking around the tent in a sort of daze. He looked like Ron, if that was possible, but also like her.

"I think Hermione might have some questions," said Ron, grinning at her. Hermione was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet in the way she did when she needed to know something. He couldn't blame her.

"What are your names? I know you said that you were time travelers and you – you said you were Harry's son."

"Yes," said Al cautiously. "There's no point in denying it now, I suppose. I'm Harry's son. My name's Albus Potter – Al for short, though."

"So I named you after Dumbledore, then," stated Harry. He always thought that when he had kids, he would name them after his parents or Sirius.

"Yes," Albus said. "It - it didn't take you long to think of the name."

Ron clapped Harry on the back. "You did it, mate! You destroyed the Horcruxes and defeated You-Know-Who! He did, didn't he?"

"When we come from, Vol –" began Scorpius.

"Oi!" said Ron, covering his mouth. Scorpius jerked away and wiped his mouth with his left sleeve. "There's a taboo on his name, so stick to 'You-Know-Who' unless you want your granddaddy's or whoever you're related to's friends to find us."

"Scorpius' father was cleared," defended Al. "Mr. Malfoy isn't a bad man – Dad's always said so."

"He did?" asked Ron. "Sorry, but it looks like you're going to go bonkers in your old age, Harry. I mean, Malfoy, a nice bloke?! Next thing you know, you'll be naming your kids after Snape."

Scorpius tried to keep a straight face while Hugo choked down a cough to hide his laughter. Albus patted him on the back. "Sorry," Hugo wheezed. "Just – just needed a cough."

"Are you okay?" queried Harry. Hugo nodded.

"Ron, I'm sure Malfoy will have changed in 25 or so years," said Hermione, although she sounded uncertain. Draco Malfoy may not be entirely inherently evil, but he was not a decent person.

_But how much?_ wondered Harry as he looked between Al and Scorpius, who had yet to make a racist remark or insult him, which was one point in favor of Malfoy's apparent son.

"Poisonous toadstools never change their spots."

"My father may be a lot of things, but he is not an evil man. You'd think I'd know, having lived with him all of my life."

"Lots of things have changed. I mean, in our time, You-Know-Who is history," said Hugo, recovering from his previous coughing session. "I've heard the story so many times I could recite it in my sleep. Which I still really hope I am doing. Did I mention how much I wish this is all a dream? Anyways, I'm – um, Hugo Weasley, age thirteen and a half."

"Who are your parents?" inquired Hermione eagerly. Hugo spoke fast like her and used elaborate hand gestures like Ron.

Hugo, who had been avoiding his parents' eyes and directed all his statements to Harry, looked for a moment like he didn't know what to do. He looked at Al for help and Al gave a slight nod. "My dad is – is Ron Weasley and my mum is … umm, she's a very nice lady and…" He didn't know what to do. Hermione was holding her breath and staring at him intently, while Ron's eyes bugged out of his head like he had seen a ghost.

"You're my son?! Blimey…" Hugo nodded at him in confirmation.

"And I'm Scorpius Malfoy, the only son of the noble House of Malfoy, one of the last remaining descendants of the noble House of Black," Scorpius deadpanned in an attempt to draw attention away from Hugo. He recited what his grandfather told him in a vain attempt to make him proud of his heritage. "My father is Draco Malfoy, Head of the Department of Magical Mishaps, my grandmother is Narcissa Malfoy, sole remaining heiress of the House of Black, my grandfather is Lucius Malfoy, absolved –"

"They get the idea, Scorp!" said Albus. "Do you really remember that much of your granddad's talks?"

Scorpius grimaced. "Every grueling word. He refused to leave me alone until I could recite the accomplishments of every single one of my relatives. Pity you stopped me, I didn't get to name all of the murders of dear Great-Auntie Bella."

"A real tragedy, that," said Al.

"So the Malfoys are good now, right?" Harry inquired. Lucius Malfoy ever having an ounce of goodness in him seemed improbable.

"Definitely not now," said Ron.

"Scorpius' dad works for the Ministry," Al said. "Apparently, you recommended him for the job."

"I did?" asked Harry.

"He did?" asked Scorpius in surprise. "Well, I suppose that Father dear doesn't share everything with me."

"I thought you knew," Al said. "I mean, Dad said that he never told your dad outright, but the records are all there, probably somewhere in your dad's files."

Scorpius shrugged. "Maybe he didn't look because he didn't want to owe your dad anything else after he stopped them from going to Azkaban."

"_I_ stopped the Malfoy family from going to Azkaban? I must've been under an imperious curse. The Malfoys are some of You-Know-Who's biggest supporters!"

Scorpius nodded. "I can't argue with that – seeing dear granddad rotting in Azkaban would be a dream come true. Yet, after the war, the entire Malfoy family was granted amnesty for all of its actions during the war because, and this is – and I quote – according to the official records, 'the Malfoy family has redeemed itself through actions expressly stated by Mr. Potter including saving Mr. Potter's life.'"

"How –" began Harry, but Hermione interrupted him.

"How did the Malfoy family save Harry's life? How was that action enough to save the entire family, especially Mr. Malfoy? You'd think that if You-Know-Who was defeated, we would have finally had the chance to catch all of the Death Eaters, especially those who hold positions like Mr. Malfoy."

Scorpius snorted. "If I could tell you – well, I'm not sure I should. But I don't think you could pay my father enough money to talk about the war, much less whatever he did."

"Which includes being involved in the murder of Dumbledore and whatever the Malfoy family's up to now!" seethed Ron.

Scorpius turned to him and said in a low voice, "If your family was being threatened by Vold – You-Know-Who himself, what would you do?"

Ron's ears turned slightly pink and he looked like he was in the middle of an internal war deciding to either argue with Scorpius, punch Scorpius, or consider the boy's argument.

"Enough," said Hermione. "Whatever the Malfoy family is or will become isn't the main issue right now, I suppose. The three of you seem to know who we are. How this is possible – you three being from –"

"2022," Hugo supplied.

"– 2022, I can't even begin to guess how that would work or affect events in the present. As I'm sure you already know, we're searching for certain objects to help destroy You-Know-Who."

"The Horcruxes," Al supplied.

"Yes," confirmed Hermione. "Are you supposed to help us now, which will in turn lead to us defeating You-Know-Who?"

"Not exactly," said Hugo.

"It's not in any version of the story I've heard, and I've listened to the stories and read all about Horcruxes," Albus explained. "After summer of my first year, Dad told me the gist of it, and he's told me a bit more as I've gotten a bit older. He said that my sister was too young to hear the full stories –"

"We listened in with an extendable ear, anyways," Hugo interrupted.

"– but we know most of what's supposed to happen this year and Hugo, Scorp, and I don't factor in."

"Even if we did, Father wouldn't have mentioned it," muttered Scorpius before he spoke up louder. "And thanks to the genius of your brother and cousin, we're stranded here in 1998 with 'Undesirable No. 1.' Remind me to send James and Freddie a thank you card."

"If we can find them again," said Albus. "But I get the first swing at them. Or better yet, we can restrain them and just let Rose have a go at them."

Scorpius smirked. "Wherever she is, I can practically hear her cursing their names now."

"Who's Rose?" inquired Hermione, interrupting Scorpius' and Albus' conversation. She had always been fond of the name "Rose."

"She's – umm… she's your daughter," responded Hugo.

"Yes," agreed Albus, nodding. "She's our best friend." He gestured between himself and Scorpius.

"She was in the attic with us when the time-turner fell, and who knows where she is now. If she's lucky, she'll have fallen into a nice, peaceful time period, like the early 2000s." Scorpius was debating in his head whether or not he would prefer it if Rose had landed in 1998 with him, Albus, and Hugo. He supposed that everyone being in the same time period would make retrieving them an easier task, but he also wanted his friend far away from the dangers of the second Wizarding War.

"I've always liked the name Rose." _In the future, I'll have a daughter_, Hermione thought, mulling the words over in her head. She wondered briefly who the father would be, and felt a brief wave of disappointment – Hugo, Ron's future son, did not mention that Rose was his sister. On the other hand, he hadn't said that Rose wasn't, and he seemed as nervous around her as he did around Ron. Regardless, her heart swelled and she felt a smile spread over her face. She would survive, and be able to return to her parents and friends.

For a moment, Harry forgot to worry about the war and the time travelers in the tent. He and his two best friends survived, and they remained friends in the future.

Ron smiled. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "Harry lives, you live, and I live. Does the entire family make it?"

"Well, do they?" asked Harry when none of the time travelers answered immediately.

Hugo had never been proficient at lying. He was too jittery and had a tendency to ramble and stutter his words. Albus was not as horrible of a liar as Hugo, but he tended to hesitate because he needed time to meditate on his answer. Luckily for both Hugo and Albus, Scorpius was a master at lying; he had been raised by Slytherins, and Slytherins dealt in secrets. Scorpius, in the middle of the hesitant Albus and Hugo, commanded Ron's and Harry's attention. "Of course," he said, and Ron's skills at interpreting body language were not proficient enough to pick up on the way Scorpius' eyes did not hold his for a second after he said the lie.

Scorpius turned to Albus and Hugo. "He seemed like he wanted to know," Scorpius fake-explained. Hugo was looking at the ground and Albus was looking past Scorpius, at Ron's hopeful face. "I know that we shouldn't tell him much more, lest the time space continuum explode, but –"

"Yeah," said Al, who had regained his ability to lie once he knew what he was going to say. "All of the Weasley family makes it through the war – both your parents, Unc – Ron, and your siblings. Not that no one was injured, but everyone lives."

Scorpius snuck quick peeks at Hermione and Harry to see if they believed his lie. Harry looked at his future son and seemed relatively convinced, while Hermione's eyebrows were creased and she was looking between Hugo and Ron with suspicion, but she did not say a word.

Hermione had to admit that when Scorpius said that the entirety of Ron's family would survive, he seemed convincing. Albus seemed convincing, too. The only one who didn't seem convincing was Hugo, who said, "Of course you all make it, I mean –" but he did not meet Ron's eyes. Ron seemed so happy at the prospect of his family's survival that she did not ask questions, though the desire burned within her to do so.

"That's wonderful, Ron," she said. "But what are we supposed to do with the knowledge of who survives?"

"I dunno," said Hugo. "Be happy about it?"

Harry decided to change the subject. "So you don't know how you're going to get home." Great. He had enough to worry about with Voldemort and the Hallows on his plate. Now he apparently had a son who had a sister (and probably a brother as well) and was friends with Draco Malfoy's son. And he had a nephew, who was rocking back and forth on his feet while conspicuously sneaking peeks at Ron, Hermione, and around the tent. Albus, Scorpius, and Hugo nodded.

"So what happens to you all then?" questioned Ron. "We just sit with you all here until some Snatchers come along or you catch up to your own time?"

"I don't know," said Albus, who did not often enjoy not knowing the outcome of events. History was a set timeline and whatever they were doing now could possibly have drastic consequences. The question was when, if ever, those consequences would be felt.

"And what if they're affecting something right now?" queried Ron, who suddenly looked upon the time travelers with newfound fear. "The whole effing universe could fall in on itself!"

"Maybe not," said Harry. "Everything seems fine right now."

"Right now," echoed Hermione. "All of the books I read on time turners said that using an ordinary time turner to mess with the past was not only unorthodox, but could be drastic. The great Hogsmeade fire of 1962 was caused by a man who got a time turner and used it to buy sweets in Honeydukes over and over again."

"Not a bad reason to time travel," Ron observed. "But with them being here right now, I reckon something bad could've already happened. What if this was the moment where we think up a brilliant plan to kill You-Know-Who?"

"Thanks, Dad," muttered Hugo quietly, trying to whisper. Unfortunately for Hugo, his 'whispers' were never quiet at all. Everybody ignored his statement except Ron, who averted his eyes to the ground.

"Probably not," said Harry, and Albus nodded. "We've been trying for ages and you two won't listen to me about the Hallows, which Dumbledore hinted at wanting us to find, in case you've forgotten. "

"We said before it wasn't a normal time turner," said Scorpius. "Unless we're qualifying 'normal' to be 'as big as a quaffle' and 'sends you back in time 25 years.' It might've had writing to tell what the thing actually was supposed to do, if it only wasn't shattered into a million pieces in the Burrow's attic."

"Wait… the Burrow's attic?" asked Harry. He turned to Ron. "That's where the goul is right now."

Ron shrugged. "Didn't see any giant time turners up there the last time I was there. The attic is one place Mum prefers to clean herself."

"The attic!" exclaimed Hugo. "We go the Burrow, get the time turner, and then go home!"

"Ron said he didn't see it in the attic," said Hermione. "Are you sure you didn't see anything that looked like an hourglass?"

Ron nodded. "I wasn't exactly searching."

Albus thought for a moment. "James and Freddie had to go a bit back into the attic and even then, we didn't see anything. Then Dominique, another one of my cousins, bumped into this invisible object."

"If you don't want your kids to see something, cover it with invisibility cloaks," Scorpius said. "It's foolproof."

"Just not James and Freddie proof," Hugo piped up. "So we just go to the Burrow. That's what I was _saying_."

"But is it safe to go to the Burrow?" Hermione wondered. "Everybody still thinks that Ron's in bed with Dragon pox, I'm a mudblood, and Harry is 'Undesirable No. 1.'"

"The Burrow's being watched," said Ron. "That's what Bill told me. If it's put under Fidelus, it'll look suspicious. And don't call yourself 'mudblood.'"

"If I call myself 'mudblood' so what? I'll call myself whatever I like. It's not a bad thing to be muggleborn and if we treat 'mudblood' like a bad word, it will remain a derogatory insult."

"When we're from, it depends on how it's used," said Hugo, whose mother was still making 'mudblood and proud' buttons that were one of the few non-joke items sold at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

"So it looks like going to the Burrow isn't an option," said Harry. "But do you think you can help us? If not with the Horcruxes, then maybe a few other questions?" His mind flooded with imagery of "The Tale of the Three Brothers." Maybe he defeated Voldemort by becoming the master of death.

Hermione knew where Harry's mind was going. "Maybe they can tell you that the Deathly Hallows aren't real."

"Are they?" asked Ron expectantly, looking at Albus and especially Hugo who, of the three time travelers, had stuttered the most since they first met.

"It depends on what you mean by 'real,'" said Hugo.

"'Real' is actually existing," Harry said. "The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak – do they exist?" Each second the time travelers remained silent gave Harry further belief in the existence of the Hallows.

"Look, this has been a really strange night for all of us," Albus broke into the conversation. "It would help if Scorp, Hugo, and I were given a few minutes to talk. Okay?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. "I think they should have a few minutes to talk," said Harry.

Ron seemed uneasy, so he looked to Hermione for an answer. Hermione was conflicted, but gave her assent. The three boys' story seemed plausible enough, or as plausible as a story of three boys traveling through time accidentally and coincidentally ending up where they were could be. "We'll give you six minutes," she said.

"Oh yes," said Scorpius. "Because six minutes to decide something that our lives could depend on is obviously enough."

Ron was about to chastise Scorpius when Harry butted in. "Fine. Take as long as you want. We agreed that they weren't that dangerous, right?" He turned to Ron, who nodded hesitantly, and Hermione, who began to speak.

"Yes, they do seem plausible. Okay, we'll be over there." She pointed to a spot in the corner of the tent. "Tell us when you're done talking."

"Don't bother trying to listen in," warned Albus. Harry nodded and he, Ron, and Hermione went to stand in a corner, talking to each other.

"Yes, you know what they say about the space-time continuum," Scorpius said.

"What was that spell used to stop people from listening in?" wondered Hugo. "Mufilio? Muffalio?"

"Muffliato." Albus took out his wand, incanted the spell, and then froze. "Bollocks," he muttered, and Albus was not typically one for swearing. "I just used magic."

"What's the problem, then?" asked Hugo.

"The problem? I just used magic, and I'm fifteen, and we're not near anywhere magic is commonly used…" He had his wand in his pocket, as he could use magic, albeit sparingly, at home and the Burrow, where his magic would seem no different than his parents'.

"We're time travelers, Al. Maybe the trace only applies to people who've been born."

Albus let out a deep breath. "Makes sense. I hope so. The trace is like a magical registry, and if I haven't been born, I haven't been registered. Okay. Anyways, what do you think we should do?"

"As I said earlier, we could go to the Burrow and get the time turner!"

"We can't ask them to go to the Burrow to get the time turner, Hugo," said Albus. "And I don't think it's a wise decision to go anywhere by ourselves."

"Why not?"

"Perhaps you missed the part where it was 1998 and the Ministry is under the control of Death Eaters," Scorpius said.

"I got that part down, thanks. I don't think I missed the bit where we're in a tent with my parents!"

"Hugo does have a point," admitted Albus.

"Who was the one who was saying –"

"About us being in a tent with his parents and my father, Scorp. There's no telling what can happen now."

"Very well, let's start at the beginning, then, before we make a decision." Scorpius knew that he and Albus would think more clearly if they looked at the facts.

"Yes." Albus' expression was contemplative. "Great, that would be for the best. Granted, most of the facts are obvious."

"I'll start," began Hugo. "Well, apparently this isn't a dream. I've pinched myself at least six times in the past five minutes."

"There goes our 'just a dream' theory,'" said Scorpius. "Here's a new one: we're actually in 1998."

"Yes," agreed Albus. So far, we know that we're in 1998 and we got here when the time turner dropped because of, well –"

"Those idiots you call relatives," supplied Scorpius.

"Those idiots I call relatives," echoed Albus. "We also know that we landed wherever my father, Aunt Hermione, and Uncle Ron are camping now, but we don't know exactly where we are. We do know – can guess that we're probably not near the Burrow."

"Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore," said Hugo, which resulted in blank looks from Albus and Scorpius. "Sorry. It's from a movie Rose and I saw at our other Grandparents' house. Getting back on topic… I mean, we don't know where anyone else is."

"I want to know where they are –"

"But trying to find them is a worse idea than going to the Burrow," said Scorpius. "At least the Burrow is a definite location. I know they're not my family, but I – I understand." Rose's face swam into his mind.

"I'm sure you do." Hugo wriggled his eyebrows suggestively at Scorpius, who pointedly ignored him. "Well, that's what we know, then. I don't really feel that helped."

"Time travel…." Albus thought aloud. "They may not have been doing anything important, but the butterfly effect has already been set into motion."

"The butterfly effect?" asked Hugo.

"Like you go back in time, squash a butterfly, and all of a sudden, everyone you know is dead," explained Scorpius.

"I don't think I stepped on any bugs," Hugo said. "So if this butterfly effect has already started, what's in for us?"

"I think we'd start slowly fading into non-existence as the entire timeline became affected," said Scorpius. "So far, all my bits are accounted for. You, Albus?"

"Nothing missing. But we haven't been here that long."

"Maybe this doesn't have to do with that whole butterfly thing," suggested Hugo.

"Perhaps," said Scorpius. "When your father used the time turner, Albus, didn't his actions when he time traveled ensure the events that happened in his future?"

"My dad stayed hidden. They've obviously seen us, and I think my Dad would've mentioned my role in the war, Scopius," said Al.

Scorpius deflated. "I don't think I know how to Obliviate someone. I've read up on the theory, but I don't think that practicing on those three would turn out well."

"So we can't Obliviate them, then," Albus said. "Well, what do we tell them? They already know they all survived and defeated Vol – You-Know-Who. That's a big spoiler right there."

"Maybe whatever we do here won't affect us at all!" exclaimed Hugo. "We just tell them where all the Horcruxes are and how to win the war and then – well, and then…"

"And then it will be much safer to attempt to find a way home," finished Al. "But…" he paused, processing a thought. "If we tell them how exactly to defeat You-Know-Who, then Dad will die for real and then the war will never be over."

"We don't have to tell them everything, Al," said Scorpius. "We could just tell them minor information about the future, like how your grandmum still makes those Christmas sweaters. Before telling them important information, maybe we should wait. I don't fancy vanishing into nonexistence for saying too much."

"We're not vanishing into nonexistence now," Hugo pointed out.

"Even so, Scorpius is right. I think we should sleep on things like telling them where the Horcruxes and the Hallows are."

"Okay," agreed Hugo with a sigh. "If we could just – I mean, what I'm trying to say is that I don't want my parents to know that they're you know, married. It's like, weird. I dunno what they'll do if they find out –"

"I thought your parents already fancied each other by now," said Scorpius.

"Mum said she fancied Dad ever since fourth year and Dad said that he realized that he fancied her after the Yule Ball, but they didn't get together until the Battle of Hogwarts. Even – even then, they didn't have their first proper date until three months after everything was over."

"Aunt Hermione said it took Uncle Ron mentioning the safety of house elves to get her to work up the courage to snog him," Al explained. "If Hugo immediately tells his parents that they end up together, they're not likely to snog immediately."

"Or they could end up shagging on that table over there." Scorpius shuddered.

"I – I just want to tell them myself, or let them figure it out," Hugo said. He was afraid how his parents would act if they got together – how oddly they would look at him. Part of him wanted to tell his parents right now, just to see the expressions on their faces, but the other part wanted to wait. Maybe Al and Scorpius were right. They should mull things over tonight and see if they could come up with more concrete decisions in the morning.

"Fine by me," said Albus.

"I don't care," said Scorpius. "So, we've decided then. We've decided to decide later."

"We've decided. Let's tell younger Dad, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione."

"They'll take this well," said Hugo.

Scorpius smirked. "Oh yes. They'll hear our indecision and be jumping for joy."

"Definitely," agreed Al. He undid the spell like he had done a few times. His father had taught his siblings and Teddy the spell, and it was passed on until practically every one of his cousins knew it. At family events, he sometimes heard buzzing in his ear at the most inopportune times. "We're done," he said loudly and Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned and walked toward them.

"So," began Hermione. Are you going to help us search for the Horcruxes?"

"Or the Hallows?" enquired Harry. He, Ron, and Hermione had further discussed the time travelers and the burden their presence placed on them if Albus, Scorpius, and Hugo could offer no help. Hermione had agreed with him that their staying until they could find a definite way to get home was the best decision morally and logically, in case they were caught by any Snatchers or Death Eaters. They knew that their older selves would never forgive them if they left their own children in a time like this, which was strange for him to think about. Ron was more reluctant, especially regarding Scorpius, but he agreed that 'the people claiming to be related to us who showed up out of nowhere and gave a pretty shite explanation don't have anywhere to go.'

"Well," said Albus, rubbing the nape of his neck, "We decided that we weren't going to lead you to the Hallows or the Horcruxes until we decide in the morning. We thought that the best option for us was to sleep on it."

"Lead us to the Hallows?" asked Harry. "So they are real!"

"No one said that," Hugo said quickly.

"So you lot were talking for about an hour, and your answer is 'we haven't decided?!'" Ron was annoyed at the time travelers' decision.

"Basically," responded Scorpius. "I knew you'd all be overjoyed with our decision. Believe me, we are, too."

Hermione placed a hand on Ron's arm and looked him in the eyes. _Patience_. The directed her gaze at Albus, who seemed to be the spokesman for whatever he, Scorpius, and Hugo had decided. "I understand that you're reluctant. With time travel, you never know what you're going to change. And you mentioned a device that I've never heard before… well, that could make this different than normal time travel."

"That's what we were just talking about!" Hugo exclaimed. "Al mentioned something about 'The Butterfly Effect' – like, apparently you step on an insect or something in the past and everything you know and love is gone – but then we were wondering if this wasn't like that at all."

"And we still don't know," concluded Albus. "And that is still the problem. We wanted to see how everything was in the morning –"

"Missing limbs, that sort of thing," said Hugo.

Harry sighed. "We can't make you talk if you don't want to. It's not that late, but I feel tired." Hermione nodded. The last couple hours or so had been emotionally draining.

"I'm kinda hungry," admitted Hugo. "I mean, we got dessert, but that was _hours_ ago."

"Yeah," said Albus. "Gran baked a great chocolate cake, too." He realized with a pang that he may not be seeing his gran again for a while.

Ron sympathized with Albus, as he had missed his mother's cooking. "I think we might have some berries or something."

"I think we do have some berries. Let me check." Hermione walked over to her bag and rummaged in it for food.

Harry spoke. "You're all going to be sleeping on the floor. Sorry about that."

"We know you weren't planning for guests," said Scorpius.

"We were only planning for the three of us – me, Ron, and Hermione. I'll see if we have extra blankets you can use."

"Don't think we have much clothes you're going to be able to fit into – I think that Malfoy Jr. or Scorpion or whatever his name is –"

"Scorpius. 'Scorpion' is what people call me if they're trying to be funny and failing miserably."

"Well, you've got a funny name. I think you might be able to fit into some of Harry's clothes if you're lucky. As for you, I dunno. For a copy of Harry, you're a bit short. How old are you, anyways?"

"Scorp and I are fifteen. And the short thing – I think I got it from my mum. I'm not that short." Some of the ingredients in the potion Al took helped with his height, but the effects were not incredibly significant.

"You keep telling yourself that, Al," said Scorpius.

"Help me look for some blankets, Ron," requested Harry as Hermione walked over with a plate of food – well, mostly plants. Ron followed Harry in the search for blankets.

"Sorry," Hermione apologized. On the plate was an assortment of odd berries and plants. "But I know they're all edible. And it's dark now, so I don't think it would be a good idea to search for food if it's going to draw attention."

"We're not going to starve," Albus reassured her. "This is fine."

"Um… yeah," mumbled Hugo. "Thanks." He popped a berry into his mouth. "Not bad."

"Delicious." Scorpius took a leaf and gingerly chewed on it. "It's earthy."

"We're real campers now," said Albus with mock cheerfulness. His father had never taken him or his siblings camping, claiming that he had enough experience to last him lifetimes.

Albus, Scorpius, and Hugo finished the plate of assorted plants as Ron and Harry returned with three blankets. "It's not much," acknowledged Harry.

"But they're all we could find for now," finished Ron.

Hugo shrugged. "I've slept on the ground before." He could fall asleep practically anywhere.

"Thanks," said Albus.

Scorpius, who was used to the comfy mattresses of Malfoy Manor and the Hogwarts dormitories, let out a begrudged, "It'll do."

"We'll go to sleep, too," said Hermione.

Harry yawned. "Might as well get an early start tomorrow. Could be a busy day." Albus, Scorpius, and Hugo felt uneasy.

Harry handed Albus and Hugo their blankets and they set them out on the floor and laid down. Scorpius held out his hands for his and Ron grunted. "I don't understand how anyone related to Malfoy could be remotely good, but fine," Ron conceded, handing Scorpius a blanket. He set it on the floor next to Albus. "But if he kills me in my sleep, Harry, I'm coming back to haunt your arse."

"Agreed," said Harry, walking to his cot and lying down so he was facing away from Ron, who walked to his own cot. Hermione was already in hers and had closed her eyes.

"Al, you didn't happen to see where I left my knife, did you?"

"You might've left it at home. But I may have an extra one…"

"Oh, shut up," said Ron, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

After a couple of minutes, Scorpius heard Hugo's snores and tapped Albus, who was lying down. "Go away, Scorp. I'm sleeping."

"Muffalio. Talking in your sleep, then?"

"Definitely," responded Al. "Well, no. I can't sleep. There's a lot to think about." He sat up.

In the darkness, Albus could see Scorpius nod. "It's a lot to take in. So, what're you going to do about your potion?"

"I'm not sure yet. Going off it for one night isn't going to do much harm. There wasn't really time to pack." Albus took a special potion twice a day – once in the morning and once before he went to bed – so that his body was more masculine.

"It regulates the hormones in your body. And going off it for one night might not be too bad, but we don't know how long we're going to be here. We may even have to defeat the most evil wizard of all time before we can even try to go home."

"I might feel a bit uncomfortable, but I'll suffer through it. There's just so much to consider now – my treatment, the seventeen year-old version of my dad sleeping over there, the fact that there's a war going on right now… I think I really want to go to sleep right now." He popped three berries in his mouth.

"I suppose you want to sleep on what to tell them about that, too."

"It's not like they can help, Scorpius. I don't even know how to make the potion. Marching up to him, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione and going 'hey, I'm transgender' isn't going to help or hurt anything. I'm just not in the mood for all of the questions right now."

"Your father and Hermione will probably be understanding. Ron might be a bit ignorant at first, to say the least, but he's not a total prick. I mean, when you first told your dad, you said that he was accepting right away. Alright, so he named you 'Albus Severus,' so he might've been slightly vengeful."

"Then Mum was vengeful from the moment I was born. 'Helgina Louanne,' honestly." He and Scorpius took a moment to snicker at his birth name before he continued. "I might tell them and I might not. Without the potion, some of its effects are going to wear off. Right now, I'm thinking about what we should tell them."

"Who isn't?" asked Scorpius, undoing his previous spell and lying down. Albus followed suit. As they lay on the floor, Albus and Scorpius considered the position they were in. Hugo, who was pretending to snore, did the same. Slowly but surely, the thrall of sleep overtook Hugo, Scorpius, and Albus respectively.

* * *

**AN: This chapter was already halfway done when I finished chapter seven, so I just decided to finish the whole thing. The next chapter will take longer because of all the work I have procrastinated and now have to finish. I hope that Harry, Ron, Hermione aren't too OOC. Thanks for reading and please review!**

**AN2: Here's a resource I used when researching hormone treatment for ftm transgender people: .ca/en/hospital/care_program_and_services/hospital_ **


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